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The 25 best animated movies of all time – readers' picks

What's the best animated film ever made? We asked Monitor readers to vote for their favorite. Which took the top spot?

11. 'Monsters, Inc.'

  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

The 2001 film co-directed by Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, and David Silverman is the story of two best friends, Sulley (John Goodman) and Mike (Billy Crystal), who are monsters and who work in the "scare department" of their city, gathering the screams of children by scaring them at night and using the screams to power the city. Most of the city's residents believe the touch of a child is poisonous, so Sulley and Mike's lives are turned upside down when they discover a toddler has escaped into their facility.

Goodman and actor Steve Buscemi, who voiced villain Randall, had worked together previously in films including the 1998 movie "The Big Lebowski."

Crystal and Goodman performed the song which plays over the movie's end credits, titled "If I Didn't Have You," and the song won its writer and composer, Randy Newman, his first Oscar for Best Original Song after having been nominated 15 times (counting another nomination that same year) before in various music-related categories.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

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