Is this an animated show, or a live one? Like a theme park version of actors in the movie "Avatar," Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor blurs the line between live action and digital animation. You're watching a cast of characters from Monsters, Inc. (the company from the Pixar film of the same name) on screen in the theater as they use jokes to elicit the laughs they need from your to power their city.
But it's not a traditional, scripted film. Audience members can text jokes from the pre-show waiting area. Cameras target audience members for on-screen gags. And performers off stage voice the on-screen monsters. I went back and forth several times between placing this in the Live Show or Animated Show brackets. Ultimately, I decided, since the show would get a better seed in the Animated bracket, to place it here.
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor opened April 2, 2007, replacing The Time-Keeper in Tomorrowland's CircleVision theater. Reviews for the show have been inconsistent due, I think, to its interactive nature. Get a "hot" crowd, with fun audience members who play along, and you're watching a great show. Wander into a half-empty theater late on a slow day in the park, and you might be stuck with a yawner.
So which fans will show up when tournament voting begins in March? Will there be enough fans to power Monsters, Inc. to a first round upset? Please share your thoughts about Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, in the comments.
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I'm glad this attraction is in the tournament. It is hit-or-miss, but I applaud its boldness. It's iffy to put something like this in a theme park where everything is so controlled, and I commend Disney for taking a chance.
If I have one complaint about the show, it's the third (and final) segment of the show, where jokes that were texted-in are read by a childlike monster. I have experienced this attraction at least four times, and not once have I heard an original or funny joke from the audience. Because of this, a potentially hilarious show has, for me, always ended on a terrible note. I can literally hear the audience grown as the corny, well-known jokes are read. If they eliminated that section of the show in favor of more comedic actors, I'd be much more satisfied. At the very least, they should move that section of the show to somewhere in the middle to avoid an anticlimax.
I would love to see Disney do more with the Living Character initiative (Turtle talk with Crush, this show, etc.) I think it adds more personal touch and re-rideability (or re-showability)
And yes, those are real people from my understanding, because they can react to the guests in the crowd, pointing them out by sex, what color shirt they have on, and respond to names.
I second Josh's thoughts on the "lame joke" section of the show.
Grammar fail.
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