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Disney's
phenomenally successful collaboration with Pixar continues with this
ingenious creature feature, which introduces us to a whole new world
of bizarre computer-animated characters.
In the city of Monstropolis, power is generated by the screams of
human tots, collected by an ace team of "scarers" who enter
the human world through the petrified tykes' bedroom closets.
Top
of the tree are James P Sullivan, aka Sully (voiced by Goodman),
a blue ogre with a heart of gold, and his lime-green, one-eyed aide
Mike (Crystal). But their alternate reality is thrown into chaos
when a little girl called Boo follows Sully back to his world, where
she and her kind are believed to be toxic...
The
idea of ordinary Joes punching in at a terror factory is a clever
one, and it's deftly developed to incorporate petty rivalries, corporate
corruption, and romance between co-workers. But it's the monsters
themselves that really astound: a gruesome gallery of slimy, tentacled,
bulbous beasts who manage to be completely grotesque yet instantly
likable (apart from Randall that is, who's a scheming salamander
voiced by Steve Buscemi).
The
pace flags around the flabby midsection, and the gurgling Boo is
never more than an ingratiating distraction. But that won't stop
this latest computer-generated caper deservedly taking a massive
byte (sorry!) out of the UK box office.
"Monsters,
Inc." opens in UK cinemas on Friday 8th February 2002.
Reviewed
by Neil
Smith , BBC Films
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