The Media Man Reviews: Monsters Inc. (Patreon Request)

Requested by Jacob Coad

Pixar has come such a long way since its early days, hasn't it? What started off as a new animation studio experimenting with the potential of computer animation ended up becoming one of the biggest names in animation alongside Disney, DreamWorks and Illumination. During the 2000's decade, they especially ruled the animation industry with constant box office hits and critical praise with each movie they made. Hell, Up and Toy Story 3 became Best Picture nominees at the Academy Awards!

Funny enough, today's post is about a Pixar movie and this week is when their new film Elio comes out...but I'm covering that NEXT week. For this post, I'm reviewing one of Pixar's earlier movies. That movie is Monsters Inc.

This movie kickstarted the career of Pixar veteran Pete Docter, for this was his directorial debut, and he went on to direct other movies such as Up, Inside Out and Soul. Monsters Inc. remains one of his most beloved movies with merchandise still being made of it to this day and it even has its own spin-off series on Disney+ with Monsters At Work. The characters are easily recognizable and there are Monsters Inc. themed rides and attractions at the Disney parks that you can visit. So yeah, to say this thing is popular is underselling it. I'd probably say it's one of Pixar's biggest franchises alongside Toy Story, Cars and Finding Nemo.

I have many nostalgic memories of this movie, namely one time where me, my family and a bunch of friends all gathered together and had a big McDonald's lunch in where we all got Monster's Inc. toys for that was what was in Happy Meals at the time. I even remember getting Monsters Inc. toys out of cereal boxes and had a toy in where you could make up your own monster. Yeah, good times. ^^ But now it's time to look at this movie with a critical eye and review it. Is this movie monstrously good? Or is it monstrous in the sense it's bad? Let's dive in...

Section 1: The Story

The story of Monsters Inc. follows Mike Wazowski and his large, scary friend James P. Sullivan (Sulley for short), both of whom have jobs at Monsters Incorporated, a factory that's all about gathering screams from human children in order to maintain their world's power supply. But kids are getting harder to scare nowadays, so it's not so easy getting screams to power up their city. However, the monsters truly have something to scream about when a human child ends up loose in their world and Mike and Sulley have to get the child, whom they nickname "Boo", back to her world before chaos ensues. But during their attempts to get her home, they uncover a dark conspiracy that could tear the company apart...

I'm going right ahead and saying that this movie's premise is GENIUS! I mean a world of monsters powered by the screams of children? That's ridiculously clever and such a perfect premise for a monster movie! How many times have we told stories of monsters to scare children and how many times have we been scared as kids of the idea of monsters in the closet or monsters hiding under our bed? Taking childhood fears like that and making a whole movie about it is the kind of creativity that you'd only get from a Pixar movie, especially early Pixar, and this movie proper takes its premise and runs with it. We get creative world-building, all kinds of monster designs and so much more with this movie. While yes, it is easy to question some of the logic here, like how the hell do these doors work in the first place and why you'd run your city's power supply on screams, but a movie like this makes it easy to turn off your brain and just accept that's how things work here. This is why I love Pixar movies, they somehow take these crazy ideas and just...make them work. I don't know how they do it.

Also, another clever aspect of the world-building is the fact that monsters get banished to the human world if they mess up at all (or in Waternoose's case, to cover up his actions). Really think about it: why do stories of the Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti, Bigfoot, the Boogeyman and many more exist? Because the monster world banishes them to the human world, thus explaining why we have those legends and stories. While yes, it seems a bit counterintuitive to banish monsters when their world's supposed to be a secret from our world, at the same time it does make sense since, well, what human's going to believe these monsters anyway? We're too busy screaming at them in fear to ask questions!

But an idea isn't everything. The premise may be genius, but is the story any good too? Absolutely. This is the kind of story where it just feels like everything works right and there's nothing that I'd really change about it. The pacing is great with no scenes that feel like they drag or are pointless, there's all kinds of twists and turns to keep the story engaging and to keep the viewers on their toes, there's lots of great comedy (seriously, this is a VERY funny movie) and the story uses its creative world-building to its advantage. It really does feel like this film's story could only work in this movie because of how well it uses its setting in order to tell this story. The climax especially with the chase through the doors is a climax you won't find anywhere else in movies and is quite a thrill ride (pun intended) from beginning to end. It's the kind of story that feels so thoughtfully crafted and carefully thought out in order to give us this fun, exciting and sometimes intense movie that can make you laugh, cry, feel excited or feel scared as you go through it.

And given this is a Pixar movie, you shouldn't be surprised whatsoever that this film has a strong emotional core. In fact, I'm pretty sure this film is still used as a primary example of Pixar movies that give you the feels. A lot of the film's heart comes from the bond between Sulley and Boo and how Monster's Inc's top scarer grows to become quite the softie towards here. Seriously, it's really precious watching Sulley essentially become a dad to Boo and it really makes for a heartfelt watch. Even Mike grows an attachment to Boo in the end. Without all that, the film wouldn't have been as wholesome to watch as it is. It's that beautiful bond that Sulley and Boo develop together as to why people still cry at this even to this day. It's also probably why people still want a sequel to this movie so we can see the two together again. Well we got a prequel, so maybe we'll get a sequel one day...

Also, given this is an early Pixar movie, it's yet again one of those movies that manages to be for kids and adults and the two tones don't feel like they clash at all. Kids can enjoy it for Mike's comedic shenanigans and all the creative monster designs while adults can enjoy it for the snappy dialogue, some of the more adult jokes they sprinkle in there and the surprisingly dark moments of the film. Seriously, the film isn't afraid to get dark at times, especially regarding Randall's scream extractor machine. Considering what it did to his assistant Frank, it does send one's shiver up their spine. Would it have killed him if Randall didn't turn the machine off? And given Randall wants to use it on the children to get more screams, that basically means he could've potentially killed children with it! That's pretty messed up! But of course, we don't get any child deaths, cause this is a family friendly movie after all, but it doesn't make Randall's scheme any less messed up. Still, it can have its dark moments without it feeling out of place and the more comedic aspects of the film balance it out nicely. This is a film in where it truly does feel like it's for families.

The film is also an example of how intelligently the script was crafted, for it's able to somehow make even the tiniest of things important to the story or effect the plot going forward. You know some crazy level of foresight went into this movie when a guy accidentally snapping Boo's photo during the restaurant scene ends up being a plot point later in the movie. Hell, there's a throwaway moment where Mike brings up the Abominable Snowman as an example of banished monsters and then later in the movie, they actually meet him! I love it when movies have this kind of thought put into their scripts for it really makes the story feel more clever and well-thought out as you watch it.

And then there's the comedy. I already mentioned that this is a very funny movie and I'm not exaggerating. Even to this day, people are still laughing their butts off at this movie with so many of its comedic scenes. I won't even bring up any examples as it'll be funnier if you just go into the movie not knowing what to expect. Just watch the movie and you'll see how funny it really gets.

So yeah, I'm kinda stating the obvious that this excellent movie has an excellent story. In other news, water is wet and the sky is blue. =P But is there anything to criticize about the story at all? Not a lot, but I do have a couple of points to bring up:

First of all, why is Randall so fixated on Boo? What makes her so special when he can literally get any kid he wants? It's never really explained and we kinda have to just accept that he's always after her. I guess maybe it's because she's afraid of him so he goes after her out of sadism or something? I have no idea, it just always bugged me that he's so hyper-fixated on this one kid when his scheme likely means he'll use that machine of his on any and all kids he gets his hands on.

And while we're talking about that, the scene where Randall tries to use the machine on Boo really stretches credibility. Like, you're seriously telling me that in the time that passed between Waternoose throwing Mike and Sulley through that door into the snowy mountains, it takes him until much later to strap Boo into the chair and use the damn machine on her? WHAT THE HELL WERE HE AND WATERNOOSE DOING THE WHOLE TIME MIKE AND SULLEY WERE IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN?! Were they just standing around waiting until the plot needs them again or something? No s*** Sulley got back in time to stop them! That's just a massive plot-hole that, while I wouldn't say it hurts the story, it does make the villains seem pretty incompetent in hindsight that it takes them this long to get going with the plot.

And also, I never really got how quickly Boo changes her tune towards Sulley. When Sulley has to roar at the machine kid to demonstrate to the newbies how to scare people, Boo gets scared of Sulley and won't let him come near her. Yet when Sulley shows up to rescue her, she's suddenly happy to see him again? What? I get that kids have sort term memories compares to us adults and Boo is literally an infant, but even infants aren't that quick to get over what scares them...or at least I think they aren't. I'm not child expert, so this could actually be realistic for all I know...

But those problems are nothing too major in my eyes. I still think this is one of Pixar's best stories they've put in a movie and easily one of the best monster stories to share with any child out there, both young and old...

Section 2: The Characters

These are some of the most beloved Pixar characters ever put to film, and it's easy to see why.

Let's start with our main duo, Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal) and James P. Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman). These two are a great duo with Mike as the more cynical and short-tempered of the two while Sulley's more laidback and has the bigger heart. With their contrasting personalities, we get a lot of comedic gold between them with some witty banter and the occasional slapstick. Mike especially really shows how effective slapstick comedy can be (poor guy) with what happens to him in the movie. But these two have more sides to their characters and aren't just one-trick ponies. Mike shows he has a sensitive side as well and while he may seem more like a jerk compared to Sulley, he's pretty caring too. And then there's Sulley in where he's the top scarer, yet is pretty modest about it, and he's all about beating the record at first, but meeting Boo and developing an attachment to her changes his perspective on life to the point he outright says "none of that matters now". It's only fitting how his arc ends with him as the new manager of Monsters Inc. by the end of the movie. The big guy more than deserved it if you ask me.

And then you have "Boo" (voiced by Mary Gibbs). Boo's pretty adorable with her innocent childish antics and the bond she forms with Sulley, which makes for the film's really effective heartfelt moments. While she hasn't got much to her aside from being an infant, I think that's all we needed from her. The fact she IS an infant already makes her a sympathetic character and we don't want to see anything bad happen to her. I'd even say the audience is like Sulley in how we want to protect this little kid as well, especially whenever Randall comes after her. Also fun fact, the film subtly implies her real name might actually be Mary. See for yourself:

No doubt they slipped that in there as a reference to her actress's name, but hey, I'll take it.

Now we move onto the villains of the movie, starting with Randall Boggs (voiced by Steve Buscemi). As a kid, Randall was my favourite character, and he still is now. He's one of Pixar's best villains thanks to his awesome design that fits his slimy, sneaky personality and just what a conniving snake (or lizard in his case) he is. While I still don't get why he's so fixated on Boo, he's still a compelling threat for how he's willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants and has no qualms about hurting (or possibly even KILLING) the kids with his machine. His skills at camouflage and his slinky reptilian body also make him pretty dangerous to deal with as he can be anywhere and everywhere and you wouldn't know until it's too late.

And then there's Mr. Waternoose (voiced by the late James Coburn). Remember how Disney got into that annoying trend of twist villains during the 2010s? Well Pixar was doing it first, way back in 1999 with Stinky Pete in Toy Story 2. And here they are doing it again for the second time in a row with Monsters Inc. However, Mr. Waternoose is often heralded as one of the BEST examples of a twist villain. Not only did the twist actually make sense and didn't come out of nowhere as it's kinda easy to see coming, it still felt like a shock when it happened because of how warm and friendly he came off to us in earlier scenes. His big reveal was as shocking to the audience as it was to the characters because we too felt betrayed by him when he turned out to be a bad guy. As is, he doesn't feel like he's evil for the sake of being evil, which still makes him an interesting character. He clearly feels like he has to do whatever's necessary for the company to survive and considering he scolds Randall for causing him to have to exile Sulley, it's clear he's not entirely happy about what he has to do. Waternoose was a great villain and I don't think I'm alone in thinking that.

Aside from those characters, the rest aren't much to talk about. Celia Mae (voiced by Jennifer Tilley) is just Mike's love interest, Roz (voiced by Bob Peterson) is the administrator that Mike has to report to, although there's quite a big twist involving her as well and the Abominable Snowman (voiced by John Ratzenberger) is the guy Mike and Sulley meet while in exile.

While the supporting cast don't have much to offer, the main characters and the villains carry the movie and are the reason why the film is as enjoyable to watch as it is. These are beloved Pixar characters for a reason and it's easy to see why...

Section 3: The Animation

It still amazes me how even early Pixar movies still look incredible despite the animation having aged since those days. They really knew how to use whatever resources they had at the time in order to make their movies despite technology not being as advanced back then.

Let's start with the obvious: the character designs. This a movie full of various different monster designs and we get all kinds of designs going on here from furry monsters to scaly monsters to monsters with horns to monsters with tentacles and many, many more. They really do go all out with the various monster designs, and they make them look pretty credible too with how they move convincingly and dependant on what their anatomy is like. Some of my favourite features include Waternoose's spider-like legs and eyes, Randall's lizard-like body and multiple limbs, Sulley's blue fur with purple spots and Celia's snake hair. I also find it appropriate how the monsters look like something a kid might've drawn or thought up to better add to the movie's kid-friendly nature. The monsters have plenty of detail on them, but not too much detail to the point they look overdesigned and they have very shapely appearances too, which makes them look easy to draw and again, adds to their kid-friendly nature. There's a reason why the designs in Pokémon appeal to kids so much, because they look cool and have mostly simple designs that are easy to draw and these monsters are no exception. Now I imagine what it'd be like if these monsters ever saw a Pokémon...

While the monster designs look great, Boo...doesn't look as good. I'm not saying she looks hideous or ugly or anything, but she's probably the character design that's aged the most poorly of the bunch. Pixar still hadn't quite got humans down right like they have nowadays, so when you compare Boo to human characters in Pixar movies, Boo looks a little like a doll sometimes and I imagine for some people, she can look a little uncanny. I still think she looks alright for the most part, but she'd look a lot better if this movie was made nowadays, much like how Andy was given an improved design in Toy Story 3 and 4.

As for the backgrounds, we mostly just see the titular factory and it looks fine enough, but not the most creative looking setting ever designed. The only real creative feature about the factory is the presence of the doors and the rail system that carries them all over the factory. As is, the backgrounds also have some clever little details that are fun to spot, namely how at Mike and Sulley's place, Sulley's armchair has a hole in the back for his tail to fit through. That just makes perfect sense to include. I also like how during the door chase scene, we see a lot of different backgrounds to show how each door goes to a different place in the human world. We go through a beach, a Japanese house with a sliding door and even a house in Paris.

It's also really cool to see how many different textures they were able to render the monsters with in this movie. Keep in mind, CGI was still in its infancy back in 2001 and yet here we see monsters with hair, scales, skin and various other details and for the most part, they look really convincing. To give you an idea on how much effort went into designing these characters, they even invented a programme just for animating Sulley's hair to make it easier to animate the character given how much hair the guy has. This was in 2001 and they were able to do stuff like that with computer animation. Unreal I tell you! Naturally, due to the animation having aged since then, the textures don't look quite as convincing as textures in a modern Pixar movie do. The lighting effects don't look quite as natural and thus the characters sometimes look a little plastic-y, but not too plastic-y at least. I can still look at Sulley and be convinced he feels hairy for example.

One thing that definitely HAS aged well though is the character animation. As I said earlier, the animators are able to give us these creative monster designs and make them move believably so they feel more convincing as living creatures despite being fictional. The fact we have some animal movements in there to further make the animation on them convincing better sells the illusion that these designs could realistically exist. Examples include the lizard-like movements of Randall, the slug-like movements of Roz and the fast, skittering movements of Waternoose's spider-like legs when he runs after Sulley. Whether these monsters have tentacles or feet or even no limbs at all, the animators are still able to make them move around in a way that makes sense for their body structure and their anatomy. So much thought clearly went into these designs and how to bring them to life. It's not just how they move that the character animation excels at too. They're able to display so much character and personality with these characters too, especially with Mike and how "animated" he can be or the sneaky expressions that Randall often makes in the movie. It also makes the comedic scenes even funnier. You know for a fact the scene with Sulley worrying about Boo getting crushed to death (despite her being fine and nowhere near the scene) was as funny as it was thanks to Sulley's expressions alone.

And then you get the action scenes, and the animators really take advantage of the film's setting to make them memorable. I know the door chase during the climax is the animation highlight for me and I'm sure it's the same for everyone else too. They really nailed that climax and made it feel like a thrill ride that you couldn't get anywhere else. This is a climax that could only happen in this movie and stands to this day as one of the most creative chase scenes ever put in a movie.

Also, as is tradition for Pixar, the movie includes a lot of hidden gags and Easter Eggs that only the truly devoted fans would notice or spot. I already mentioned how there's a quick moment where you can see what's possibly Boo's real name on her drawings, but there's also the restaurant that Mike and Celia have their date at which is named "Harryhausen's". Why is that worth noting? It's a shout-out to the late Ray Harryhausen, a man who made his career animating monsters in monster movies such as Clash of the Titans, the old Sinbad movies and many more. How appropriate is at that a movie about monsters has a location named after a man who animated monsters? It's such a lovely Easter Egg to put in there!

Overall, the animation has aged a little, but by the standards of computer-animation in 2001, this is still really damn impressive stuff and it's amazing it still looks as good as it does today. While Monsters University gave us a better looking depiction of this world, Monsters Inc. still looks incredible now and is an example of classic Pixar animation doing the best it could at the time...

Overall

What can I say? It's a Pixar classic for a reason. Monsters Inc. is a smartly crafted and constructed movie with fascinating world-building, an engaging plot, great comedy, touching heartfelt moments, lovable characters and animation that while a little dated is still pretty impressive looking. I would tell you guys to go and see it, but you've likely seen it already. So...go see it again. You deserve to treat yourself that way. This is a monster story I'm happy to revisit again and again...

And that's it for this review. I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you all to share your thoughts down below. Do you like Monsters Inc.? What do you enjoy about it? Do let me know.

Next week, I'm still talking about Pixar as I review their newest movie, Elio. See you then media fans!

Special thanks to Jacob Coad who's support on Patreon got him this review. If you want to be like Jacob and request something for me to review for my blog, then visit my Patreon page and make a pledge today!