Monsters, Inc.

Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: November 2, 2001

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

79	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

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. Read full review

100

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

100

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

100

Staff (Not Credited)

It's unfailingly lively entertainment that doesn't stint on (earned) feeling. Ideas about fear of the unknown, industrial corruption, and the splendours of polymorphity are all taken in stride. The balance tilts towards action and gags, and does them gloriously. Read full review

David Ansen

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

A.O. Scott

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

Joe Morgenstern

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

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

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

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

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

Lou Lumenick

Smart, funny and ingeniously detailed with terrific vocal teamwork. Read full review

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Lisa Alspector

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

Desson Thomson

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

Marc Savlov

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

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.

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

Carla Meyer

Funny and sweet enough to delight kids and inventive enough to satisfy adults. Read full review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

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

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

Charles Taylor

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

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

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

Shawn Levy

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

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.