Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
48
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
54
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
35
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
56
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
76
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
68
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
85
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
52
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
74
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Monsters, Inc.
EMAILPRINTBuena Vista Pictures

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 59 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Family/Kids
Written by:
Dan Gerson
Andrew Stanton
Directed by:
Peter Docter
David Silverman (co-director)
Lee Unkrich (co-director)
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 2, 2001
DVD: September 17, 2002
Running Time: 88 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
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)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A Bug's Life Finding Nemo The Incredibles Toy Story Toy Story 2 Up
GAMES: PS2 Monsters Inc.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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...
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
The climax, featuring what's essentially a suspended roller coaster of closet doors, is as thrilling as it is imaginative.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Smart, funny and ingeniously detailed with terrific vocal teamwork.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
An unprecedented friendship between a monster and a child leads to an amazing chase scene.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
The spirited interplay between Goodman and Crystal is both wacky and, dare I say, charming.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer
Funny and sweet enough to delight kids and inventive enough to satisfy adults.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Monsters, Inc. has got that swing, that zippity, multilevel awareness of kids'-eye sensibilities and adult-pitched humor.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
It's a nice movie. But Disney has never learned that "nice," especially in comedy, is a negative virtue.
Read Full Review >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."
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 59 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.
