Scary cutesy

>> Monsters, Inc. is a semi-successful kid's movie

by MARK SLUTSKY

Monsters, Inc., the latest animated feature from CGI wunderkinds Pixar (most famous for the Toy Story movies and A Bug's Life) is a fun, good-natured movie that occasionally slides a little too much from cute to cutesiness. But it's an enjoyable watch nonetheless and sure to appeal like crazy to kids. It'll probably be merchandised like hell, but it definitely feels less mercenary than a lot of other children's entertainment.

The movie has an inventive premise that gives it a lot of creative leeway: it seems that there's this parallel universe populated with monsters of all sorts. The monsters' main source of electrical power is the screams of human children, which they acquire by sneaking into children's rooms and scaring them at night, thus charging their batteries. Scarers are prestigious sorts, and the city's top Scarers are the team of Sully, a big kaleidoscopically coloured furry thing (voiced by John Goodman), and his assistant Mike Wazowski, a round, one-eyed nervous sidekick (voiced by Billy Crystal).

The clever little comic reversal is that while the monsters spend their time stealing into children's rooms through their closet doors and freaking them out, they're actually terrified of the little kids, believing them to be poisonous and absolutely deadly on contact. The story really begins when Sully accidentally lets an infant girl wander into the monster-verse one night. Adventure results as he and Wazowski try frantically to get the girl back to her room.

Though quite creative and pretty amazing to look at, Monsters, Inc. does have a couple of flaws. The picture drags a little at half time, at which point our two heroes are chasing the girl around and trying not to get caught by the authorities. This mostly takes part in the Scare factory, which is not as visually interesting as the city outside. With the exception of one great set piece, this middle section of the film feels a little dull. The second flaw has to do with the film's conclusion, which kind of subverts the film's entire premise and makes it way too cutesy. Without giving anything away, it's another example of the annoying tendency that makers of children's entertainment have to shield the little ones from the slightest hint of menace or negativity, and it almost spoils the movie. But kids of a slightly less cranky nature than this reviewer probably won't mind.