Review of Monsters, Inc. (2001) by Brinn O — 26 Oct 2013

Have you ever wondered why monsters come out of children's closets to scare them? Do you also wonder what monsters do aside from scaring children all over the world? Well, in Disney-Pixar's charming 2001 computer-animated feature Monsters, Inc., we are at least given a clever explanation regarding what the answers to those two questions might be. The film centers around two monsters who work at a place called Monsters, Inc. One monster named Sulley (John Goodman) is the company's top scarer and the other monster Mike (Billy Crystal) is his best friend. At this company they work at, their job is to scare children from all over the world in able to generate power for the monster world.

I know what you're thinking, it sounds like it's an embarrassingly easy job for them, right? Actually, there's a pretty "significant" catch to their job. Apparently, human children are believed to be so highly contagious in the monster world that "A single touch could kill you" according to the company's CEO, Mr. Waternoose (James Coburn). I think younger kids who are frightened by something possibly coming out of their closet will appreciate this twist to the story. The reason being is that it leads to great comedy as a human child named Boo has entered the monster world. In addition to that, our main character Sulley ends up being the one discovering her through various circumstances. While Mike and Sulley try to formulate a plan to get Boo back home, Sulley comes across a discovery that will change their workplace forever.

When I was a kid, I recall having a fear of some sort of monster coming out of my closet. Surprisingly, it's not because I thought it was going to scare me, but because I thought it would eat me alive. So naturally when I was younger, I thought it was hilarious that the monsters in this film are as terrified of human children as the human children are of them. In other words, humans and monsters are pretty much scared of each other. This specific twist to the plot is the main reason Monsters, Inc. is still funny twelve years after its initial release. The comedy is coming from the fact that this brave and curious little girl is scaring the crap out of these monsters, when it really should be the other way around. While it may sound like a one-joke premise on paper, Pixar was smart to deliver variations of that one joke.

The world that Monsters, Inc. introduces us to is bursting with creativity and imagination. I loved how the doors to these children's bedrooms were made into portals for the monster world. It really looks cool when the monsters go into these doors that lead them to the children. It makes the climax, which consists of Mike, Sulley and Boo looking for Boo's door in the factory's warehouse, all the more amazing in the way that it plays out. I also liked how the friendship between Boo and Sulley played out, and I was particularly impressed with how much change Sulley experienced from this friendship as shown in the film's ending.

Monsters, Inc. is a sweet little children's film that, in a way, shows us that something we usually find scary can actually became something we can find funny. While I can't say that it's the strongest or the most non-formulaic film Pixar has made, I can confidently say that it's a film that both kids and adults can enjoy on the same level.