They're finally here! The beginning of a string of fun holiday films! (We hope.)

Monsters, Inc. is a very fun "family" picture. Okay "family" picture usually means children like it, and adults are so bored they wish the snack bar sold vodka. But this is the real meaning of "family" picture. A film that is appropriate for a wide range of ages.

The premise is fresh. The city of Monstropolis is powered by the screams of children. Every night talented monsters walk through special doors which lead to childrens' bedrooms. When they scare a child, an assistant on the other side of the door collects the screams in a special tank.

But children aren't so easy to scare these days. There's a severe energy crisis. Then the worst possible thing that could happen ... happens. A child follows a monster through the door.

Monsters are very afraid of children. They believe children to be the most toxic beings on earth. Just being touched by a child's sock means you need to be decontaminated.

Our heroes in this story, Sulley and Mike, happen upon this child and need to get her back into her bedroom. In the beginning they are terrified, and later, grow a real attachment to young Boo.

But horrible other events are taking place. Corporate greed threatens everyone's well-being. Sulley and Mike not only have to take care of Boo, but stop the bad guys and find a new energy supply for the city.

As you can tell, this is a multi-layered film with a lot going on. This story is a cut above most live action films you're going to see this year. This isn't the brain dead stories written especially to not go over a kid's head. In fact, there are a couple of gags that I think you need to be at least 35 to get.

Pixar has built up their farm of rendering computers for Monsters, Inc.. They used fifty times the computing power to render the images, compared to the last Toy Story film. What they did with that power was go deeper on the details. Sulley is covered with three million hairs. Each is rendered individually, and reacts to the environment. This is the cutting edge of computer animation.

This was a really fun movie. I've been waiting for something decent to see for a long time, and my wait is over. The only thing that could have made the film better might have been a few more kids in the audience.