Monsters Inc is one of the most creative premises in any animated movie. Actually scratch that. Monsters Inc is one of the most creative premises in any animated movie period. This would be the first time well known Pixar collaborator Pete Doctor would take the director’s helm after John Lasster directed the previous three movies from the Pixar studio. I remembered loving this movie as a kid and admittedly even deep down in my heart I still love the movie as an adult.
In a world of Monsters, James P Sullivan or Sully (John Goodman) and Mike Wazoski (Billy Crystal) are an unstoppable pair that work together in a factory called Monsters Incorporated to scare children by using closet doors as portals to a kid’s room. The catch is that human children are incredibly toxic and releasing one in the monster world would be incredibly dangerous. One night, Sully comes across a random door after hours and after inspecting it he finds that he accidentally let out a little girl (Mary Gibbs) who gets discovered in the monster world which creates massive panic. Now it’s up to Sully and Mike to get the little girl named Boo back to her door before anyone finds out but things may get complicated as Sully and Mike’s neimess Randall (Steve Buscemi) might have different plans that involve Boo in some shape or form.
The Story is possibly one of the best if not the best idea Pixar has ever come up with. The world building is incredible as it takes the idea of monsters scaring children and makes an entire world around it. It’s amazing the way they got creative with establishing the way Monsters Incorporated functions and the creative reason why monsters need to scare children. The actual narrative itself does play on with the movie's ideas while adding some laugh out loud humor and some surprising deep messages about the acceptance of fatherhood and economic decline. I could go on and on about the creativity of this movie but overall it’s some of Pixar's best world building.
The Characters are all perfectly cast and each of them have loads of personality that bounce well off each other. This is especially the case with Sully and Mike as John Goodman and Billy Crystal’s character interactions are just pure comedy gold. It’s also interesting how the voice of Boo is an actual little girl who has little to no patience in being in a recording booth so the people at Pixar just followed a young mary gibbs around the studio as she played which is impressive how they got so much material for how Boo emotes in the movie. Randall, being one of the antagonists, really does go all out with his sinisterness and I can tell that Steve Buscemi had a blast voicing the character. There are many other memorable characters that make a memorable impression but all in all, the characters are just plain great no matter how big or small the part is
The Animation really brings all the creativity to life and it sucks us into a whole new world for us to explore. One thing that was really cool is how in the beginning they start with a very upbeat 2D sequence. It’s a very creative way to open the movie and the animation plays along perfectly with the music. The environments are just amazing to look at and they show off every creative aspect from the quiet streets of Monstropolis, to the epic size and scale of Monster Incorporated's door vault. The design of the monsters are very creative and some of the little details like sully’s fur are very impressive. Sure, it is starting to show some of its wear and tear as the years roll on, but the animation still holds up remarkably well to this very day.
The Music was for the fourth time by Randy Newman. The Upbeat Jazz music really gives the movie an identity and it adds on to the movie's style in a lot of scenes. A lot of the other music uses the soft violin melodies to let the heartfelt scenes play out. The movie’s theme works greatly when played with the 2D animated opening and it really is irresistible to listen to. Even the song at the end credits “If I didn’t have you” is a great representation of the relationship between Mike and Sully.
I do tend to forget how much I love this movie from time to time, Heck I still find myself coming back to this movie again and again. I still have a special place in my heart for this movie. It has a very imaginative concept, lovable characters, Amazing animation and a very upbeat music score. It was one of the first Pixar movies I've ever seen and it introduced me to one of the best animation studios in the business.
(Final Grade A+)