— reviewer: (Brian) finds himself being blamed for things he hasn't done. However, as we get to know Brian, we discover that there are tons of things he does that he actually should be getting in trouble for, so I figure it's about even.
The Nostalgia Critic also took Brian to task for being way too into Maurice's vicious pranks in his review:
Maurice:(on Brian worrying about his crush not liking him) Why would anybody hate you, Bri?
NC: Oh, I don't know, maybe because YOU'RE AWFUL!
Brian: No, it’s just that ever since we moved here, I haven’t really been able to make friends.
NC: Again, because YOU’RE AWFUL!
Hilarious in Hindsight: Monsters live in a world where it's their job to scare human children, every child's room contains a portal to the monster world, the friendly blue horned monster scares his human friend and questions his job at one point... it's like a live action version of Monsters, Inc..
In fact, in the subsequent Monsters at Work, one of the episodes is actually titled "Little Monsters"!
Nightmare Fuel: The movie is relatively free of scary imagery, right up until the scene where Snik suddenly pulls a kid's head off his shoulders and tosses it in a basket.
When all the monsters gather around the infant girl’s crib and make the most demented, terrifying faces at her, scaring the absolute crap out of her and making her cry. Disturbingly surreal. Just imagine these creatures staring at you if you were a baby in a crib.
One-Scene Wonder: The leader of the monsters appears in the film at the last minute, but is one of the most memorable parts of it all the same due to how creepy he is.
The CG shooting stars occasionally flying around the monster world, which were added to try to make it look otherworldly, but failing.
It appears to be implied near the end (after they kill Snik) that the shooting stars are either the souls of the monsters or their energy.
Snik's wig slightly sliding up his head in one scene.
Spiritual Licensee: More than a few reviewers have humorously noted that this movie is all but a kids' movie version of Nightbreed.
Squick: While Maurice and Brian sneak inside the bully's house, they replaced the tuna with cat food. Then Maurice drank the bully's apple juice and refills it with his own urine. Later in school during lunch, after taking a bite of his sandwich, the bully drinks his juice to wash the taste off only to vomit on the principal's shirt.
Germain Lussier: One bright spot in Little Monsters is that Howie Mandel gives about 500 percent in his performance as Maurice. He’s totally engrossed in this creepy, weird, character and it shows. Unfortunately, his energy is counterbalanced by Fred Savage giving him almost nothing...The result is Mandel bouncing off the fucking walls and Savage half-caring at best.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: This kids' film has swearing, gory deaths, and verbal abuse. So in other words, all the things that tickle their funny bone. The Grimm Fairytales were all those things back in their day. In fact, this movie was on the "Kids" section on Netflix for quite a while, despite the fact that the PG rating (which is what the movie got) was heavily different in the 1980s than it is now.
The 1997 literature/cartoon franchise
Americans Hate Tingle: The books did poorly in Canada, leading to a release of the second lineup there being scrapped.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The franchise was reportedly huge in France and Greece, getting to the point where a fair portion of the later books in the series sold way better in those countries than in their native United Kingdom.
Viewer Gender Confusion: Healthy Heather can be confused for a boy if you don't know her name.
:— reviewer: (Brian) finds himself being blamed for things he hasn't done. However, as we get to know Brian, we discover that there are tons of things he does that he actually should be getting in trouble for, so I figure it's about even.