Monsters, Inc.

Movie Grade: A-

DVD Features Grade: F

Overall Grade: B

The combination of Disney and Pixar is without a doubt a force to be reckoned with. Since their first team up in 1995 with Toy Story, they have produced nothing but quality children’s movies with outstanding use of computer animation. Personally I am charmed easier by traditional animation, especially now with the majority of animated films being done with computers, but it is impossible to deny the stature of these films. With ample acclaim in recent years, following the release of both Wall-E and Up, Disney/Pixar shows no signs of slowing down.

Looking back through the studio’s filmography, it is hard to do deny how incredibly clever the films are; Monsters Inc. in particular. Being based around the lives of monsters in their own monster world, as they go to work and live their lives overwhelmingly similar to the way humans do. One big difference is that their main source of energy is the screams of children. To harvest this energy they sneak into children rooms through the only threshold between the two worlds: children’s closets.

Sulley (John Goodman) is an extremely successful monster that lives a normal monster’s life; that is until a little girl (Marry Gibbs) is accidentally brought into the monster world. Now Sulley and his friend Mike (Billy Crystal) have to keep the girl, who they name Boo, out of sight to protect the other monsters as well as Boo her. Things get complicated when Sulley becomes attached to her and names her Boo. For some reason she isn’t scared of the two monsters, but finds them rather funny. This is when the two come across something big. The laughter of children is massively more potent as far as fuel is considered than the screams of children.

It is almost unnerving to see the entire “energy crisis” in the film. It is far too parallel to what is going on in the world right now. We are running low on fossil fuels in the same sense that the monsters were running low on screams, and the laughter is their alternative fuel. This along with other similarities is what makes the film as ingenious as it is; that as well as the fact that the relationship between Sulley and Boo is developed so extremely well.

There is even a bit of adventure in the film when Sulley and Mike are trying to get Boo back to her door, all while Randall (Steve Buscemi) is trying to catch them to use Boo They are on a sort of conveyer belt filled with doors and have to climb through them to reach Boo’s. This give us the chance to put the monsters in a large variety of odd places like Japan, Hawaii, and several other cartoony places that add to the whims of the film.

The one drawback to the

DVD as a package is the fact that is has no special features. Yes they have commentary, which is interesting, but the odds of people wanting to rewatch the film are little to none. We do get the choice between wide and full screen, which is cool – that is if you are thick headed and don’t understand that the concept of full screen is that you lose part of the picture. This is all part of the man trying to keep you down, or at least trying to get you to buy a blu-ray player.

If there is one type of film that will never go out of style, it is quality children’s films. As long as there is cinema there will be a place for children’s movies because there demographic of children, as well as adults who enjoy a childlike sense of wonder, will always be a large one. Films like Monsters Inc. as well as the rest of the Disney/Pixar library is without a doubt the top of the line choices as far as films of this niche are considered. No matter what age you agree, there is never anything wrong with something that eludes the same magic and excitement as a film like this.

Movie Grade: A-

DVD Features Grade: F

Overall Grade: B