Repost: Monsters, Inc.

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

Pixar's MONSTERS INC. has the distinction of the being one the nominees of the newly-minted 2001 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (it lost to the first SHREK) recognizing, of course, that with the aid of CGI, there would be a torrent of bit/byte-based things, some of them potentially worth seeing. Certainly this one is; most Pixar films have been top-class. Of course, I'm in CARS 2 denial here, and it may not be long before we get MONSTERS INC. 2 with a similar prefab 007-spoof international-espionage plot tacked on (if found please return to Fred Flintstone).

Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (now on video)

[OBLIVION ISLAND: HARUKA AND THE MAGIC MIRROR is now available on home video.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

 

One of the comments recently on this blog enthused about the CGI feature PARANORMAN; the poster hoped it would be in a similar league as CORALINE. Okay, you want a CORALINE imitation? I'll give you a CORALINE imitation: OBLIVION ISLAND. Actually, it's even more so a lookalike of Neil Gaiman's rather lesser-known script MIRRORMASK - and any number of little-girl-goes-to-enchanted-alternate-universe-and-gets-chased-by-weird-things, right back to the first celluloid adaptations of Lewis Carroll's Alice and her Wonderland.

Finding Nemo

[FINDING NEMO opens this Friday in a new 3D version. This review applies to the film in it's 2D presentation. Since the only difference is now you get to pay a few bucks more to wear cheap plastic glasses, we feel the review still applies.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

I have a drinking game for you all to try at the newly-opened-who-wouldn't-hire-me Cleveland Aquarium. Locate the tank that contains the common saltwater species the clownfish and the blue tang. Wait for kids to come along, and every time some tot excitedly points the animals out and says "Nemo!" or "Dory!" take a shot. Any spirits beverage of your choice, including 3.2 beer. You'll be smashed within minutes. Within an hour, liable to be life-flighted for alcohol poisoning. (This drinking game also applies to the fish exhibit at the also-who-wouldn't-hire-me-Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, but the Cleveland Aquarium was built in the Flats, where superhuman public intoxication raises fewer eyebrows.)

Monsters Inc. (January 28th at the CWRU Film Society, Strosacker Auditorium)

[MONSTERS, INC screens Saturday January 28th at 7 pm and 9 pm at the CWRU Film Society, Strosacker Auditorium.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

Pixar's MONSTERS INC. has the distinction of the being one the nominees of the newly-minted 2001 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (it lost to the first SHREK) recognizing, of course, that with the aid of CGI, there would be a torrent of bit/byte-based things, some of them potentially worth seeing. Certainly this one is; most Pixar films have been top-class. Of course, I'm in CARS 2 denial here, and it may not be long before we get MONSTERS INC. 2 with a similar prefab 007-spoof international-espionage plot tacked on (if found please return to Fred Flintstone).