In order to power the city, monsters have to scare children so that they
scream. However, the children are toxic to the monsters, and after a
child gets through, two monsters realize things may not be what they
think.
Directors:Pete Docter,
David Silverman
Writers:Pete Docter (original story by),
Jill Culton (original story by)
Stars:Billy Crystal,
John Goodman,
Mary Gibbs
Storyline
A city of monsters with no humans called Monstropolis centers around the
city's power company, Monsters, Inc. The lovable, confident, tough,
furry blue behemoth-like giant monster named James P. Sullivan (better
known as Sulley) and his wisecracking best friend, short, green cyclops
monster Mike Wazowski, discover what happens when the real world
interacts with theirs in the form of a 2-year-old baby girl dubbed
"Boo," who accidentally sneaks into the monster world with Sulley one
night. And now it's up to Sulley and Mike to send Boo back in her door
before anybody finds out, especially two evil villains such as Sulley's
main rival as a scarer, chameleon-like Randall (a monster that Boo is
very afraid of), who possesses the ability to change the color of his
skin, and Mike and Sulley's boss Mr. Waternoose, the chairman and chief
executive officer of Monsters, Inc.
User Reviews
You may admire the
hair detail on Sully the Yeti's arm, but you will be amazed at the
warmth of characterization in `Monsters, Inc.,' surpassing even the
great `Shrek' earlier this year. Goodman and Crystal are a comedic team
reminiscent of the zaniest Martin and Lewis days. Crystal's Borscht-belt
routines brought smiles even to this jaded and admittedly
tough-on-comedy critic. I thought Eddie Murphy's donkey in `Shrek' was
smart and funny; Crystal's one-eyed monster is even better with its wry
and annoying wit.
Cleaning the environment of child contamination
is a hilarious conceit that turns around the usual fears children have
of monsters in closets. It is also a chilling parallel to the challenge
of removing anthrax from today's letters. Generally, the allegorical
underpinnings of animation are natural for the medium, powerful like the
images of the novel `Animal Farm' for political and sociological levels
of meaning. For example, the endless-door motif in this film is an
ingenious metaphor for the scary and glorious possibilities the present
and future hold for kids.
Even before you see this feature, Pixar
offers the short feature `For the Birds' -- a brilliant takeoff on
Hitchcock's memorable film besides being a great commentary on
diversity. The expressions around the animated eyes, as the little birds
deal with the big bird interloper, are more expressive than those of
most contemporary film actors, with the exception of Brando, Pacino,
Depp, and Streep.
Zootopia follows our bunny protagonist Juddy Hopps in her quest for justice, honesty and most of all achieving her dream of becoming a cop, impossible as it may seem due to her size, against all odds and constant warnings from others. As a cop she will meet Nick Wilde, a sly fox con artist that will help her uncover some conspiracy that could potentially ruin relationships between prey and predators.
This movie is as smart as a anthropomorphic animal film can be taking advantage of every quality of the animal kingdom (for example the districts of the city Zootopia are ecosystems) while also making some references to pop culture and clever writing. The voice acting is top notch and the animation is by far one of the best out there, with impressive lighting effects and character facial expressions. But the best element of this film is its two main characters and the chemistry between them...yes there is just as much chemistry between Juddy and Nick as there is between Danny Golver and Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon.