Review of Monsters, Inc. (2001) by Emco — 17 Sep 2013

What makes a film a children’s movie? A children’s movie does not just contain the friendly voices behind animated characters in a made up world. A movie for children is much more than just the goofy characters, the vibrant colors, and the silly skit. The make or break of a children’s movie is one thing: the moral.

In the fall of 2001, together, Disney and Pixar came out with another classic movie of made up worlds and interesting creatures. Director Pete Docter, with co-directors David Silverman and Lee Unkrich, created a movie for all the viewers to watch and take a small life lesson from. The entertaining, comical, and adventurous movie is aimed at the younger children, but some life lesson can be taken from the movie for those of all ages.

Monster’s Inc. is a movie unlike any the children have seen before. The originality of this film lies in the plot of the skit, as a message to the children behind the lines. Not only is Monster’s Inc. an animated film, with fuzzy characters, in a fantasy world, but also gives the young viewers a lesson to watch and take from the events of the movie.

Although some may say that the “charm” of this film is from the vocal cast, they are only looking at the movie from an educated adults view. The targeted viewers for Monster’s Inc. are the young children, given from the animations.

Based on the common criteria of animations, vocals, colors, scenery, characters, etc., the movie alone rates very well. The uniqueness of each character adds to the moral of the movie. Sully, the big-hearted monster, with this “partner in crime” Mike, the small comical monster, make a great dynamic duo. Together, they are the top ranking partnership in their “scream factory”, bringing in the most money by walking into different worlds through kid’s closets and scaring them to record their screams for the monster’s worlds power.

The movie seems to sound like a horror film, monsters crawling into kid’s rooms from their closet and scaring them. Well that’s the twist with the moral. The town’s biggest, scariest monster is actually the one with the biggest heart. The monster Mike, looks scary with his one eye, but is actually extremely comical.

When one “scare” goes wrong, and a human, Boo, is released into the monster’s world, she becomes acquainted with Sully and Mike. At first the monsters are afraid of Boo, because it’s believed that they have diseases and will kill the monsters. How ironic, that the little human girl is afraid of the big monsters? After a night, they become friends but Sully and Mike must hide Boo from the rest of the community because having her holds the risk of being fired.

Boo’s name comes from her as a human and living in the monsters world. Ironically, she is not scared of the monsters, but the monsters are scared of her. The uniqueness of this idea adds to the entertainment of the film, showing that not everything is how it seems. In reality, Boo should be scared of the monsters, but she is not.

This ironic plot gives the movie a different outcome of the overall moral: don’t judge a book by the cover. Just because something is believed to be scary, like monsters coming out of the closet, does not mean that they are scary in reality. Just because Mike and Sully are monsters, and they look strange, different, and scary, does not mean that they actually are. The main message given to the children teaches them that a monster, or anything else, is not actually what it appears to be. Sully is big and scary, but in reality, he is not and he actually has the biggest heart.

Viewers of this movie should come out feeling as though they should reevaluate what they feared, or judged too quickly. Not everything is how it should seem. Ordinary children associate monsters as scary creatures to be afraid of and fear. Monster’s Inc. takes this fear of monsters, and turns it around. The movie doesn’t just explain monsters are not real, but takes it in a more creative direction by showing that just because monsters appear scary, does not mean that they are scary creatures. The movie shows monsters as nice, caring, and funny creatures.

Monster’s Inc. brought in a $34 Million into the box office, and scored a 3.8/5, according to the movie rating website, Rotten Tomatoes. The average viewer takes into consideration, the skit, voice-overs, character’s appearance and every last detail. Every viewer should, at least, walk away with a new view on monsters and a laugh.

The originality of this movie is unlike any other. Monster’s Inc. uses what children fear most, monsters, and make them seem like harmful creatures. This movie puts the imaginations of these young kids and has them look behind appearance and what they expected. Monster’s Inc.