Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

34 10,000 B.C.
48 21
47 27 Dresses
17 88 Minutes
39 Alvin and the Chipmunks
55 Baby Mama
69 Bank Job, The
52 Be Kind Rewind
42 Bucket List, The
54 Charlie Bartlett
36 College Road Trip
31 Deception
51 Doomsday
41 Drillbit Taylor
29 Fool's Gold
57 Forbidden Kingdom, The
67 Forgetting Sarah Marshall
59 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
57 Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
71 Horton Hears a Who!
63 How She Move
78 Iron Man
35 Jumper
81 Juno
56 Leatherheads
41 Mad Money
37 Made of Honor
9 Meet the Spartans
48 National Treasure: Book of Secrets
39 Never Back Down
55 Nim's Island
50 Other Boleyn Girl, The
xx Rogue
44 Ruins, The
47 Semi-Pro
76 Shine a Light
37 Shutter
57 Smart People
37 Speed Racer
62 Spiderwick Chronicles, The
50 Step Up 2 the Streets
61 Stop Loss
55 Street Kings
33 Superhero Movie
92 There Will Be Blood
45 Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns
40 Vantage Point
36 What Happens in Vegas...

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

97 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83 Alexandra
43 Anamorph
35 Babysitters, The
32 Backseat
80 Band's Visit, The
62 Battle for Haditha
47 Bella
63 Blind Mountain
71 Blindsight
47 Boarding Gate
63 Body of War
58 Bra Boys
70 Caramel
54 Cashback
44 Chaos Theory
32 Chapter 27
69 Chicago 10
82 Chop Shop
46 CJ7
78 Counterfeiters, The
30 Cover
48 Dark Matter
35 Deal
61 Dhamma Brothers, The
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73 Duchess of Langeais, The
20 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58 Fall, The
43 Favor, The
58 First Saturday in May, The
57 Flawless
87 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx From Within
44 Frontier(s)
59 Fugitive Pieces
41 Funny Games
66 George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61 Girls Rock!
55 Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57 Grand, The
58 Hats Off
68 Honeydripper
xx Jack and Jill vs. the World
67 Jellyfish
xx Kiss the Bride
37 Life Before Her Eyes, The
72 Life of Reilly, The
50 Look
65 Married Life
35 Meet Bill
63 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
54 Mister Lonely
52 My Blueberry Nights
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
52 Noise
61 OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83 Paranoid Park
55 Pathology
48 Penelope
90 Persepolis
62 Planet B-Boy
xx Plumm Summer, A
67 Praying with Lior
46 Previous Engagement, A
72 Priceless
17 Prom Night
69 Redbelt
72 Roman de gare
48 Run, Fat Boy, Run
85 Savages, The
24 Sex and Death 101
66 Shelter
75 Shotgun Stories
40 Sleepwalking
67 Snow Angels
64 Son of Rambow
71 Standard Operating Procedure
76 Stuff and Dough
64 Surfwise
xx Tashan
82 Taxi to the Dark Side
57 Teeth
56 Then She Found Me
55 Tracey Fragments, The
56 Turn the River
72 Tuya's Marriage
83 U2 3D
59 Under the Same Moon
76 Unforeseen, The
xx Unsettled
91 Up the Yangtze
55 Vice
79 Visitor, The
64 Water Lilies
45 Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57 Without the King
74 Witnesses, The
63 XXY
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75 Young@Heart
45 Zombie Strippers

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Monsters, Inc.
Buena Vista Pictures


8.6

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 55 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

GAMES:

PS2 Monsters Inc.

MPAA RATING: G for General Audiences

Starring Billy Crystal, John Goodman, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, Bonnie Hunt, Mary Gibbs, and Steve Buscemi

The Academy Award-winning creators of "Toy Story" open the door to a frightfully funny world of monsters and mayhem and scare up lots of laughs in their new movie, Monsters, Inc. (Disney/Pixar)

GENRE(S):	Family/Kids
WRITTEN BY:	Dan Gerson Andrew Stanton
DIRECTED BY:	Peter Docter David Silverman (co-director) Lee Unkrich (co-director)
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 17, 2002 Video: September 17, 2002 Theatrical: November 2, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	88 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Winner, Best Original Song (Randy Newman), 2002 Academy Awards

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky

As giddy and antic as any great Warner Bros. cartoon of the 1930s and '40s -- it bears seeing more than once, if only to allow for the sight gags that play second fiddle to the plot, a rarity in animation -- but also resonant and real. In other words, it's the perfect movie.

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's the Pixar animators who keep grown-ups as riveted as the kids with visual marvels that dazzle and delight.

100

LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert

The story's charming, the set pieces are wildly inventive, and even the throwaway one-liners, about everything from movie-animation pioneer Ray Harryhausen to the old Oscar Meyer jingle, are hilarious.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Who doesn't need what this movie has to give?

Newsweek David Ansen

A terrific piece of work: smart, inventive and executed with state-of-the-art finesse.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

There hasn't been a film in years to use creative energy as efficiently as Monsters, Inc.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

The climax, featuring what's essentially a suspended roller coaster of closet doors, is as thrilling as it is imaginative.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

It comes from Pixar, the animation studio that scored with the "Toy Story" series and "A Bug's Life," and it has more zip and a tad less soul than those predecessors.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The movie may not be perfect, but it's jam-packed with goodies -- like a breakfast cereal fun-pack with a prize on every box-top.

USA Today Mike Clark

Though the comedy is sometimes more frenetic than inspired and viewer emotions are rarely touched to any notable degree, the movie is as visually inventive as its Pixar predecessors.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Movies like Monsters, Inc. literally make you feel like a kid again, marveling at the joyously inventive sights before you, and that's a feat that should not be taken lightly.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

"Shrek" is a scintilla funnier, "Toy Story 2" a hair's breadth more poignant, but "MI" is every bit as imaginative and lovable as these other contemporary animation classics.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Smart, funny and ingeniously detailed with terrific vocal teamwork.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Not quite up to the exalted level of the two predecessors ("Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2"), be assured it's still the most eye-popping and thoroughly entertaining animated film to come down the pike so far this year.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

Confirms that despite all the technical tools at their disposal, one thing counts head and shoulders above razzle-dazzle eye candy (or anything else, for that matter): the story and characters, and Monsters, Inc. introduces worthy additions to the Pixar pantheon.

Time Richard Corliss

"Shrek," this film's prime competition for the first Animated Feature Oscar, is a synoptic parody of fairy tales. In Monsters, Inc. the gags aren't as spot-on but the technique is miles ahead. The vision is grander and warmer.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Whatever its ultimate position on the greatest hits list, Monsters, Inc. is supple and technologically sophisticated entertainment.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Much more kid-oriented than any other computer-animated movie thus far. In other words, it's much more Disneyish. I enjoyed it.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

An unprecedented friendship between a monster and a child leads to an amazing chase scene.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

The spirited interplay between Goodman and Crystal is both wacky and, dare I say, charming.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Monsters, Inc. is cheerful, high-energy fun, and like the other Pixar movies, has a running supply of gags and references aimed at grownups.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Rarely does an animated character merge as perfectly with the persona of the actor providing his voice as the star of Monsters, Inc. does with John Goodman.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The movie's cutest twist is that the monsters are more scared of kids than kids are of them, because they think human children are toxic.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Funny and sweet enough to delight kids and inventive enough to satisfy adults.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Monsters, Inc. has got that swing, that zippity, multilevel awareness of kids'-eye sensibilities and adult-pitched humor.

Slate David Edelstein

Doesn’t have the warmth of the Toy Story pictures, but it still boasts a very entertaining slapstick-farce structure and some neat hairy, oozy, tendrilly creatures.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

It's a nice movie. But Disney has never learned that "nice," especially in comedy, is a negative virtue.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Clever and jokey in a vaudeville sort of way, but lacks the heart and sheer imagination of the company's best work for Disney, "Toy Story 2" and "A Bug's Life."

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's a good movie, mind you, with great bits in it, but it still falls short of rapture.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

By any other standard, the creatures in Monsters, Inc. would be impressive. But by the high standard Pixar not only set itself, but invented, they're only ordinary.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Marvels of animation abound in Monsters, Inc. -- when it comes to irreverent humor and real heart, Monsters doesn't quite measure up.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Though it has its charms, Monsters, Inc. does not measure up. As a childhood entertainment it is certainly fine, but Pixar's celebrated lure for adults is largely absent.

TV Guide Frank Lovece

The funny lines fall flat and the relationships and conversations among adult characters are straight out of 1950s sitcoms. Now that's scary.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

But Monsters, Inc. -- directed by Pixar soldier Pete Docter, not by master digital comic John Lasseter -- turns out to be stingy on context, commentary, and the prism-ing view of pop culture that made the earlier films mint.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 55 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mark H. gave it a10:
Watched at least 30 times withthe kids and not once did I feel forced, fantastic.

Dani P. gave it a10:
It was an amazing movie and i loved it!!!!

sloppy joe gave it a10:
Pros: every econd is hilarious, i could watch it over and over again, superior visuals. cons: NONE!

Kamie H. gave it a 10:
AWESOME!!!!!

Patrick H. gave it a 10:
Fantastic!!! :)))

Andrew M. gave it a 9:
(9.5) As much fun as the two Toy Story's and the comparison stops there! This is Monsters, Inc. A unique story with unique characters. Moreover, is has a script that's hilarious, voice talent that's impeccable, and the whole group of filmmakers are simply geniuses. It's cliched throughout but, heck, who cares! You love the heroes, adore the victim, and despise the villian(s). And you're supposed to! Not to mention that you laugh yourself silly at the side-characters. C'mon, who doesn't love Roz?!? This film has everything and age is not a prerequisite. It will thrill audiences for many many years to come.

Pat C. gave it an 8:
Pretty good for shallow cartoon characters.

Monsters, Inc. Buena Vista Pictures

Monsters, Inc.
Buena Vista Pictures