Friday, Nov. 2, we ventured to the Mall of America, mingling with all the little monsterbrats wanting to be the first to see Monsters Inc., this year’s big Disney/Pixar film. Following in the footsteps of Toy Story’s huge success, Monsters Inc. had big shoes to fill and plenty of competition with this year’s wave of mystical and magical movies from Shrek to Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings to Final Fantasy. But Monsters Inc. came out with a bang anyway. Being avid early-Friday-afternoon-movie-goers, we usually end up being two in a handful of people in the theater. Not this time: the theater was packed with screaming, screeching, smelly kids and 50-year-olds alike. We were shocked. This wide age range was fitting however, as Monsters Inc. appeals to all ages. Let us tell you how.
Unlike traditional Disney movies, MI wasn’t built on some old mooshy-love-story-fairy tale. This movie is really upbeat; it’s fast-paced, has rougher-type bad guys, a jazzy soundtrack, and even a hilarious pre-film. These new-style characteristics are most definitely thanks to the new Pixar director’s influence on the production. From the start of the movie we thought it was clear that the directors come from an art deco background. Unlike the usual Disney style of an organic softie type drawing look, these animations seemed more industrial, or even architectural. The setting, music and pace reminded lil-Stineer of The Mask, maybe the two directors were brothers … hmmmm?
Our soon-to-be favorite monster heroes, Mike and Sulley, are the stars of this great film. Mike, a stumpy, one-eyed green monster with the voice of Billy Crystal, is the sidekick, right-hand-man and best friend of the blue-green gorilla monster Sulley. Sulley is the huge, responsible all-star everyone looks up to and he gets his voice from John Goodman. These two are the top-shot employees at the “Monsters, Inc.” factory for scream collection and refinement (“they scare because they care”). They collect the screams of venomous human cubs in order to provide electricity for their parallel-universe monster world. Sulley enjoys the fame and glory of being the #1 scream provider. The bad-assed Mr. Randall (voice by Steve Buscemi), a slithering unforeseeable all-time meanie, constantly strives towards breaking Sulley’s scream-record and taking over the factory. Disaster strikes when Mr. Randal the Scandal illegally works overtime to surmount the scream record. A human hyperactive rugrat, a little girl later nicknamed “Boo,” manages to cross the magic border between the human world and the monster world (known as a child’s closet door).
All hell breaks loose, as the mere touch of human offspring is believed to be deadly for all monsters. As rumor spreads that a child is loose, the hunt begins as all government secret forces are instantly implemented to detect and annihilate the little rascal. By a series of unfortunate mishaps, Sulley gets stuck with the kiddo. At first he’s as terrified as everyone else, but he soon discovers that the kid is not deadly at all. Thus, to Mike’s devastation, they realize they have to bring the kid back home to humanland before the authorities evaporate the little bundle of joy. Boo, who affectionately refers to Sulley as “kiddy,” is deliriously unaware of the pressing danger around her as she turns the monster world upside down while prancing around happily.
Monstropolis leaves viewers (and the slightly less composed rolio) in stitches of laughter, while getting ooos and aaas from others (like the calm Stineer). The monsters actually did such a good job of scaring on-screen that the toddlers in the theatre occasionally cried. (That’s what we like, yay, no mush-mush here!) But in the predominately giggle-filled theatre, it was obvious that most people enjoyed the movie as much as we did. We thought the movie was great on many levels: rolio liked the animation and Stineer liked the music. What made it different from other animations preceding it is that unlike the blocky, stiff characters from Shrek, MI had clearly exaggerated animations without trying to pull off random realism. Boo was a stylized version of everyone’s two-year-old kid sister. She was hyperactive, and reminded us of the Muppets in the way they moved. We loved the architecture and the small comical references here and there, like the happening Metropolis restaurant called “Harry Hausens.” Note: the city’s name is Monstropolis! (Yay Minneapolis.) The Monster world was colorful, expansive and over-the-top (as it should be goddammit!) and it all went along with the upbeat overall theme of the film (read; happy-go-go-50’s teen-rock/20’s jazz-style-type-thing)
MI is a superb film in our opinion. It appealed to the young (el rolio) and the young at heart (Stineer) while providing ample entertainment for those looking for something random to do on a Saturday. If you even chuckled once in Shrek then MI is a movie for you to see. Forget about that lil’ Potter kid and his magic, leave the rings alone. We walked out of the theater with a sense of happiness and two more laughter wrinkles on each of our eyes. Stineer and el rolio are pretty sure you will too.