Reel critics

Ray Buffer

Did you know that a secret civilization of monsters needs the screams

of children to renew its depleted energy supplies? A company known as

Monsters, Inc., is staffed by brave monsters who are taught the art of

terror, in hopes that they can elicit vocalized fear from kindergartners.

To do this, they utilize dimensional doorways that create instant

thresholds from a factory in the monster’s universe to the bedrooms of

the human children, utilizing their closet doors. Unfortunately, children

are getting tougher and more desensitized to panic, making the monster’s

jobs harder.

Monsters, Inc., also educates its employees that children are carriers

of plague and disease, which beckons for harsh hazmat squads that respond

to all child related contaminates. You didn’t know this? Well, it’s all

explained in Disney and Pixar’s Monsters, Inc.

The daily grind of Monsters living in suburbia known as Monstropolis,

and the parody of company life, is extremely well done. Sulley and Mike

(voiced by John Goodman and Billy Crystal, respectively) are two likable,

monstrous chums who slowly realize the Company has perpetrated a

deception on them and their co-workers. While up to know good, a

particularly vile co-worker named Randall (voiced by Steve Buscemi)

accidentally allows a child, later nicknamed Boo, to enter the monster’s

dimension.

Five-year-old actress Mary Gibbs voices the precocious 2-year-old

toddler lending depth and authenticity that magnifies the great attention

to detail on this film.

Screenwriters Andrew Stanton and Dan Gerson made director Pete

Docter’s story the new standard by which all other animated features must

now compare. The excellent well-balanced script refuses to scrape the

bottom of good taste as some recent comedies have, and it features the

best that Pixar has offered in surreal animated realism. You can count

the hairs on Sulley’s back as they sway in motion and each cast their own

shadow. Randy Newman’s music is subtle and culminates in a clever duet

between Sully and Mike during the closing credits that make you yearn for

more visuals rather than scrolling names.

This film is perfectly constructed to appeal to the widest demographic

and is a wonderful family film. Yes, there are social commentaries about

labor and the work force, yes, there are moral sermons on fear and

priorities, and yes, there are inside jokes and references to Toy Story

characters, and revered, ground breaking animators of the past. Even

without all those things, Monsters, Inc. is a great movie.

* RAY BUFFER, 31, is a professional singer, actor and voice-over

artist.