MONSTERS, INC.

Pixar has done it again, and this time the joy comes wrapped in a genuinely biblical message: don't be afraid. Sulley and Mike's world is dazzlingly imagined, the humor lands for kids and adults alike, and the story's climax — where fear itself is unmasked and defeated by love — will bring you to tears, the good kind.

There's a small catch, and it's specifically about the youngest viewers. Children still in the "things go bump in the night" imagination stage, roughly ages two to five, may find a few scenes genuinely frightening, and some scary, violent cartoon moments (a chase, a villain's threats) are part of the ride. With a parent nearby to talk it through, older kids handle it easily and are richly rewarded.

This is a movie for your whole family to watch together, laugh with, and talk about afterward. Just keep the littlest ones close.

In Monstropolis, monsters make their living scaring children — their screams power the whole city. Sulley (John Goodman) is the company's top scarer, backed up by his roommate and best friend, Mike (Billy Crystal). But when a little human girl accidentally follows Sulley home, everything Sulley thought he knew about kids, fear, and his own job gets turned upside down — and a rival scarer named Randall has plans for her that are anything but friendly.

Four stars, and every one is earned. Pixar's animation here isn't just polished — it's inventive at a level the source calls one of animation's great achievements, singling out the door-warehouse chase as a standout sequence. John Goodman and Billy Crystal give the central friendship real warmth and comic chemistry, and little Mary Gibbs, voicing Boo, supplies the emotional center that makes the whole film work. John Ratzenberger's cameo adds another laugh. Director Pete Docter and the writing team keep the pace brisk and the heart bigger than the jokes, which is Pixar's real signature: a film built on character and story first, spectacle second.

This is a film that gets the big things right. Under all the fur and screams sits a strong moral worldview: fear, deceit, and nastiness are ultimately rebuked, while love, laughter, fun, and friendship win the day. That's not incidental — it's the whole point of the story, and it lines up with the call in Scripture not to be afraid.

Two smaller concerns are worth naming honestly. Some parents and educators worry that young children still forming their sense of what's real (roughly ages three to six) could come away more convinced that "monsters under the bed" are possible — a concern best handled by simply talking with your child before and after. And some may be uneasy that the film makes creatures resembling demons so likeable. In practice, though, the story handles this with a light, redemptive touch rather than glorifying anything dark, and it's Sulley's growing love for a child, not any darkness, that drives the plot.

What the film ultimately shows — that love is more powerful than fear — echoes a promise Scripture makes far more completely: nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).

Pixar has given families a rare thing: a movie that's laugh-out-loud funny, visually astonishing, and quietly true about what actually defeats fear. Our answer stands: worth the trip — ages 6 and up. If you've got a little one still afraid of the dark, watch it together first, and let the conversation do some of the work.