It's monster magic time at the movies. Young in age or just young in attitude, the new Disney-Pixar picture Monsters, Inc. will rock your world and send you home happy.

With its deliciously inventive story, its dazzling technical virtuosity and its dynamic cast of vocal talents led by Billy Crystal and John Goodman, Monsters, Inc. is as good as it gets in the world of computer animation.

Expect to see this movie engaged in a monster battle with the rival DreamWorks studio's hilarious Shrek when they both get nominated for the first Oscar for best animated film, a new category being introduced for 2001.

In terms of Pixar history, Monsters, Inc. is even more innocent and beguiling than the two edgier Toy Story movies. It is also less hip and sarcastic than Shrek. Therefore, you can assume that, like Pixar's A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc. is skewed to a slightly younger audience. That said, all the Pixar work has proven to be captivating to adults as well.

Computer-generated

Like other Pixar pictures, the new one is entirely computer-generated. In this case, the animators have taken a giant leap forward in the depiction of fur -- check out the luxurious blue-green and purple pelt on Goodman's character, a monster nicknamed Sulley -- as well as in the way clothes fit on creatures -- in this case a human child.

These technical advances are highly visible, yet you quickly forget (as you should) because the story is so clever. So let's give credit where it is due. The original story in Monsters, Inc. was developed by Pete Docter (who also served as the director), Jill Culton, Jeff Pidgeon and Ralph Eggleston, with screenplay credit to Andrew Stanton and Daniel Gerson.

Together this group came up with this scenario: In the opening scenes, we meet the workers at an energy-producing company called Monsters, Inc. in the fantastical city of Monstropolis, which is connected to the human world on Earth only through closet doors in children's bedrooms.

Our heroes are two monsters who hold the company record for capturing energy: One is the big, seemingly scary guy James P. (Sulley) Sullivan and the other is his fast-talking, diminutive, one-eyed, lime-green sidekick Mike Wazowski. The Goodman-Crystal chemistry in bringing these characters to life is absolutely sensational, bringing warmth as well as blasts of humour to their friendship and their adventures.

The trick of the plot is that the monsters enter kids' bedrooms through those magical doors. Then they scare them silly, capture their screams in metal canisters and use that as the energy source to run Monstropolis.

Cunning twist

The next cunning twist is that it turns out that the monsters are more scared of kids than vice-versa, believing that human children, and even their clothes or toys, are toxic. So, when a human child nicknamed Boo (Mary Gibbs) crosses over into Monstropolis, there is widespread panic.

Sulley and Mike, however, discover that Boo is a delightful little thing and they become her protectors. Meanwhile, there is Hitchcockian treachery afoot at the company. It is a highly sophisticated and yet easy-to-understand plot.

In the end, Monsters, Inc. also is bolstered by a strong moral message -- confront your fears -- that has been delivered through great story-telling. Also on-screen is a delightful Pixar short, For The Birds, which also deals with issues of diversity and acceptance, but in cartoon-style. (More on: Monsters, Inc. ).

(This film is rated F)

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