Movie Mondays: Monsters Inc

Monsters Inc is the first Pixar film on two fronts. It is the first Pixar film to be released during the new millennium and, more importantly, the first not to be directed by John Lassetter. Despite not being the sole director of A Bugs Life and Toy Story 2, he was a major contributing factor to their success. From what I gathered from the last review, Toy Story 2 was struggling until Lasseter got directly involved. Say what you want about Lasseter and his creepy hugging tendencies, at the time the man was the big boy at Pixar. Could Pixar make a hit film without his involvement? Well Monsters Inc was one of the highest grossing films of 2001, so yes, they absolutely could.

Monsters Inc was directed by fellow Pixar founder Pete Docter with Lee Unkrich and David Silverman serving as co-directors. The idea from Monsters Inc came from a lunch meeting between the various Pixar founder where they would throw out a bunch of different story ideas. In fact, many of their early films were initially spawned from that meeting. Doctor wanted to tap into a similar childlike emotion that was tapped into with Toy Story. They eventually settled on a movie that centred around the concept of the monster that comes out of the closet to scare kids. Thankfully, Monsters Inc had a much smoother development to Toy Story 2 so there isn’t much more to cover on the development side. So enough waffling on, let’s talk about Monsters Inc.

You know the old cliché of the monster in the kids closet that comes out to scare them? Well in Monsters Inc, that’s them doing their job. Taking place in a world of monsters, Monsters Inc centers around a factory with the same name. See in this movie, monsters get their energy from children’s screams and Monsters Inc provides those screams with its team of scarers. The best scare team in the company are James P. Sullivan and Michael Wazowski, you can call them Mike and Sulley. Mike and Sulley are big celebrities since they produce more scream energy than any other monster, to the point that they’re about to break the all-time scare record. Sulley is even the favourite of the company head, Mr. Waternoose.

But things go awry when Sulley, on his way back to get some paperwork, discovers a stray door the monster use to enter a kid's bedroom and accidentally releases a little girl into the monster world. As it turns out, monsters are terrified of children because they think they’re toxic and spread pestilence and plague. I mean, they aren’t wrong. And when the kid, nicknamed Boo, breaks out and starts causing a ruckus, Mike and Sulley have to find a way to send her back. This is going to be harder than they think as Monsters Inc’s number two scarer, Randall, is after Boo for his own nefarious purposes.

Monsters Inc follows in a similar vein to Toy Story in that it takes an idea that’s already been done, in this case a world of monsters that exist to scare kids, and puts a new spin on the idea. The monsters in the movie are not portrayed as malicious or mischievous, they’re just doing their job, which they need to do to get energy so people can live their lives. The monster world isn’t too dissimilar to a regular city and Monsters Inc is portrayed as a typical factory, or as typical as they could make it anyway. It helps ground the monster world in a strange sense of normalcy which helps make the monsters relatable despite being, you know, monsters.

The world building is very good. Throughout the film there are hints that Monsters Inc is not doing so well. Children are becoming harder to scare which is causing the company to go under, and since the company provides most of the world's energy this is causing a scare shortage. Keep that in mind because I’ll talk about in more depth later. A lot of this is built up through little background details and off handed remarks, helping the world building feel natural without relying on exposition.

Like Toy Story, this is a buddy comedy. A lot of the focus is on the friendship between Mike and Sulley. Though unlike Toy Story where Buzz and Woody were both meant to be funny people that worked off one another, here the relationship is more akin to classic comedy duos with Sulley being the straight man and Mike being the funny one. I like this shake up and the dynamic between the two is quite good. Sully being the kind-hearted but clumsy hero and Mike the long suffering but optimistic sidekick. The banter between the two is one of the best parts of the movie and where most of the comedy comes from.

That’s one of the movies strengths, it is very funny. It's not just in the dialogue either, there are a lot of great visual gags throughout the movie that take advantage of the various types of monsters in the film. There's also a lot more slapstick this time around. This movie takes a lot of cues from classic comedies and Looney Tunes shorts, there’s even a scene that references the classic Chuck Jones cartoon Feed the Kitty. It’s refreshing to see a Disney take inspiration from its biggest rival, if a little bizarre.

Of course, one of the main highlights of the comedy is Boo. Watching a bunch of monsters be frightened of a little girl is hilarious. I mean they’re, absolutely terrified of her. Just the sight of her is enough to send them into a panic and that’s a brilliant subversion of the classic monster trope. To give you an idea of how scared monsters are of kids, they have a group that specifically deals with children called the Child Detection Agency, or C.D.A. All the members wear hazmat suits and an entire swarm of them is sent in when a sock gets stuck on a monster. They send in a swarm of hazmat's, over a sock. Jesus, and I thought we overreacted to shit.

Boo herself is just way too adorable. She's only two years old and the film portrays her as close to a real life two-year-old as possible. I have a lot of kids in the family and the films portrayal of a two-year-old is pretty spot on. She also doesn’t talk; she babbles most of her lines. Bo is played by Mary Gibbs who was two years old at the time. Apparently she wouldn’t sit still in the recording booth, so they just followed her around with a microphone and recorded what she did, so a lot of Boo’s dialogue is just a two-year-old screwing around.

If you’re the kind of person that hates kids, really, really hates kids, then Boo is going to annoy the piss out of you. I get it. Two-year-olds are some of the most annoying people on the planet, they call it the terrible twos for a reason after all. But I must give credit to Pixar for making a little kid that feels like a proper little kid. In fact, I think they did too good a job. It makes the moments where Boo is upset or in danger very uncomfortable to watch.

But this does help give Monsters Inc that emotional core, particularly with Sulley and Boo. The two grow very close throughout the film and it is very endearing. It’s like a father daughter relationship, though given Boo has parents it’s probably closer to say it’s like the relationship between an uncle and niece. It kind of reminded me of my relationship with my niece when she was that age. It is a very cute relationship. The most emotional scenes in the movie revolve around the two with the ending in particular being quite the gut wrencher.

But this is mostly a comedy and as a comedy it’s fantastic. The movie has so much energy it’s hard not to get like it. Everything moves at such a frantic pace and it all culminates in what I think is the best finale we’ve seen in a Pixar film yet. This movie is worth watching for the third act alone. The style of comedy reminds me of one of my favourite cartoons, Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends. The best episodes of Fosters had this boundless energy where everything would just build up more and more and it just kept getting funnier. Monsters Inc has that same kind of energy though not quite to the same degree.

It’s also similar to Fosters in that it relies on a lot of unique and interesting designs for most of its cast. Since this is a world of monsters the film takes full advantage of this. You've got monsters with a dozen eyes, small monsters that live in tiny apartments, giant monsters, cycloptic monsters with medusa hair, you’ve got monsters that are just a mouth with legs, slimy monsters, fire breathing monsters and even the Abominable Snowman. There are lots of great looking monster designs in the film and yet they reuse just enough of them to help make the world feel a little more believable. Granted this was probably done to save time on making new models but it works to the films advantage. There's also an impressive amount of detail in the texture work, you can almost count the individual hairs on Sulley and the other monsters aren’t far off either. This is the most detail we’ve seen in a Pixar film yet and it’s something even the films prequel couldn’t quite match, but that’s a story for another day.

And don’t think we’ve lost the sense of scale either. Since we now have monsters as our protagonists, we have lost some of the impressive use of scale from A Bugs Life and Toy Story, but when this movie goes big, it goes big. One of the reasons the third act is the high point of the movie is because of the impressive scale of it. Granted the factory setting isn’t the most visually interesting of places but that’s kind of the point. It’s meant to be a factory where monsters go to work, so the sterile look of it works with what the film is going for.

The film does have its visually stunning moments, both in and out of the factory. I wish we could see more of the monster city because it is one of the better-looking scenes in the film and the scene in the sushi restaurant is pretty good too thanks to all the unique monster designs. By the way, the restaurant is named after Ray Harryhausen and that’s an awesome reference. There's quite a few references and cameos littered throughout the film for eagle eyed viewers including some from the next Pixar that would be released. This would be something of a trend in Pixar films going forward.

But the real highlight of the film visually is the character animation. Since the comedy relies heavily on slapstick this shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. The character animation is the best in a Pixar film yet, it’s more expressive and energetic without going too overboard. And with all the weird monster designs the animators did a good job of making them move as you would expect. They all have the right amount of weight and yet are more flexible to work with the comedy. It's also impressive to see Pixar animate characters with multiple limbs and make it look believable.

Combine that with the films great sense of comedic timing and you have a great looking animated film that pushes Pixar’s craft even further. This is especially true with Boo. It’s clear at this point that Pixar have mastered how to animate human characters as we now have one who is a prominent character that looks very good. Suffice to say it won’t be long until we have a Pixar film with an entirely human cast.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about the characters. John Goodman and Billy Crystal play Sulley and Mike respectively and both work off each other very well while also fitting their characters perfectly. Billy Crystal brings a lot of energy to his performance as Mike while Goodman adds a likable charm to Sulley. It's a very old-school dynamic with the two being complete opposites working off one another and it works very well. Fun fact, Billy Crystal was the first person they went with to voice Buzz Lightyear, but he turned them down. Oh what a difference three hit films makes.

Most of your enjoyment from the film is going to come down to how much you like the performance of Billy Crystal. You either love his performance as Mike or you hate it. Personally, I enjoyed what he brought to the role and thought his delivery worked for the film, others may not be so taken by it and I have seen people express disdain for his performance. This is one of those things that’s going to come down to subjective opinion.

In terms of the supporting cast, you have Jennifer Tilly as Mikes girlfriend Celia. She doesn’t have many scenes, but she adds her own charm to the role and does a good job with what she has. Pixar animator Bob Peterson voices Roz. Roz is a highlight of the film despite appearing very briefly. Her droll demeanour and strangely intimidating presence help make her one of the more memorable characters. Another standout is the Abominable Snowman voiced by our old pal John Ratsenberger. As you would expect he brings his patented charm to the role which helps make the character a highlight despite being in one scene in the whole movie.

Then there’s Steve Buscemi as Randall Boggs. Randall is the perpetual number 2 at Monsters Inc who is tired of being stuck in Sulley’s shadow. While Sulley is doing this to help people, he even walks to work to help with the scare shortage, Randall is only in it for the glory. He's a selfish, self-centered sociopath who is willing to kidnap children to get what he wants. He's the most cruel and evil Pixar villain yet. Buscemi is great in the role, he’s very good at playing slimy underhanded characters so he fits Randall very well.

But Randall is not the only villain in the movie, however in order to talk about this I once again have to enter spoiler territory. I will also be going into spoilers from this point onwards so if you don’t want to be spoiled skip the next 4 paragraphs.

Randalls plan in the film is to kidnap kids to extract their screams forcefully with a new machine he’s invented. His hope is that this will revolutionize the scream industry and put him on top. It's then revealed that Waternoose, the head of Monsters Inc, is behind the whole thing. The company was in his family for three generations and he’s desperate to keep it afloat.

This actually leads me to an interesting thing about this movie, it’s kind of a satire on the energy industry. Throughout the film there are allusions to a looming scare shortage. Scaring kids isn’t providing enough energy anymore, Monsters Inc are struggling to make their quota because kids are becoming harder to scare. Randall and Waternoose’s solution is to forcefully extract screams from children. This is not just unethical, it’s also far more unsustainable as the children will likely not survive the process.

However, there is an alternate that is shown throughout the film. Every time Boo laughs it causes a massive energy surge that knocks the power out. Turns out, laughter is far more powerful than screams and they can use that to help with the looming energy crisis. The message of the film is promoting the research into new forms of energy and in a way that’s subtle and actually fits the world of the film. Remember when films were subtle with their messages? Yeah, me neither.

So Waternoose’s motivation makes sense. He’s a desperate man trying to stop his business from going under, which to him means crossing a line he can’t go back from. He even says at the end he would rather kidnap thousands of children rather than watch his company die. He doesn’t want to do bad but feels like it’s his only option left. He's one of the more interesting twist villains. His motivations are sprinkled throughout the film so when his heel turn is revealed it makes perfect sense. Veteran actor James Coburn does Waternoose’s voice, and he does a good job of coming across as the old mentor figure driven to evil out of desperation. This was also one of Coburn’s last film before he would pass away in 2002.

Monsters Inc is a fantastic film. I’ve noticed that many people rank Monsters Inc very highly and I can absolutely see why. For me personally I think it’s very good, but I would say it’s somewhere in the middle in my own personal ranking.

There is a lot I like about the film though. I think Mike and Sulley are a great duo, I love the animation, the comedy is great, and I like the world and monster designs. There really isn’t much too hate about the film, so why don’t I like it as much as other Pixar works. I don’t really know, I guess it’s all down to personal preference. I just think there are other Pixar movies that have more interesting stories, characters and themes. Monsters Inc has a decent story and some great characters but thematically it’s a little all over the place.

Here's the thing with Pete Docter, his films often have much more going on under the hood. I’ll get more into this when I get to his other films but suffice it to say there’s a lot to unpack with them. Monsters Inc isn’t that much different. You have the energy crisis, the relationship between Sulley and Boo, Mike and Sulley’s friendship, corporate corruption, the dynamic between monsters and kids, that’s a lot of themes to pack into one film and a kids film no less. The problem is that a lot of them are either underdeveloped or aren’t given enough time to breath given how fast paced the film is. Later Pete Docter films would have a lot of these quiet moments where the audience can take in all of what is going on. Monsters Inc does have these but because of the films frantic nature they don’t last very long. I think the film suffers because of this.

Monsters Inc is a fan favourite and it’s easy to see why. Mike and Sulley would go on to become beloved icons and a comic duo that were able to match Woody and Buzz. It proved that Pixar weren’t a one trick pony. They had so many more ideas and stories to tell and the talent to tell them right. It really did seem like they could do no wrong. Monsters Inc may not be one of my favourite Pixar films but it’s an easy one to recommend. The good stuff is simply too good to miss out on.

Next week, we’re looking at the first Pixar film by Andrew Stanton. Stanton was the lead writer for every Pixar film so far and even co-directed A Bugs Life, but would his sole directorial debut be up to snuff? Until next time, remember to stay safe, and have fun.