| 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.
|
| 90 |
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Who doesn't need what this movie has to give?
|
| 90 |
Newsweek
David Ansen
A terrific piece of work: smart, inventive and executed with state-of-the-art finesse.
|
| 90 |
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
There hasn't been a film in years to use creative energy as efficiently as Monsters, Inc.
|
| 88 |
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
The climax, featuring what's essentially a suspended roller coaster of closet doors, is as thrilling as it is imaginative.
|
| 88 |
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.
|
| 88 |
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.
|
| 88 |
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.
|
| 88 |
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.
|
| 88 |
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.
|
| 88 |
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Smart, funny and ingeniously detailed with terrific vocal teamwork.
|
| 83 |
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.
|
| 80 |
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.
|
| 80 |
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.
|
| 80 |
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Whatever its ultimate position on the greatest hits list, Monsters, Inc. is supple and technologically sophisticated entertainment.
|
| 80 |
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.
|
| 80 |
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
An unprecedented friendship between a monster and a child leads to an amazing chase scene.
|
| 78 |
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
The spirited interplay between Goodman and Crystal is both wacky and, dare I say, charming.
|
| 75 |
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.
|
| 75 |
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.
|
| 75 |
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.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
Funny and sweet enough to delight kids and inventive enough to satisfy adults.
|
| 75 |
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Monsters, Inc. has got that swing, that zippity, multilevel awareness of kids'-eye sensibilities and adult-pitched humor.
|
| 70 |
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.
|
| 70 |
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
It's a nice movie. But Disney has never learned that "nice," especially in comedy, is a negative virtue.
|
| 70 |
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."
|
| 67 |
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
It's a good movie, mind you, with great bits in it, but it still falls short of rapture.
|
| 63 |
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.
|
| 60 |
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.
|
| 60 |
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.
|
| 60 |
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.
|
| 50 |
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.
|
