Monsters, Inc. (film)
From AwardAnnals
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| Director(s) | Peter Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich |
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| Distributor | Disney/Pixar |
| Honors | |
| The folks at Pixar can do no wrong with Monsters, Inc., the studio’s fourth feature film, which stretches the computer animation format in terms of both technical complexity and emotional impact. The giant, blue-furred James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (wonderfully voiced by John Goodman) is a scare-monster extraordinaire in the hidden world of Monstropolis, where the scaring of kids is an imperative in order to keep the entire city running. Beyond the competition to be the best at the business, Sullivan and his assistant, the one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy… | |
Honors
- 2002 BAFTA-Children winner
- 2002 Hugo-Video nominee
- 2002 Oscar-Animation nominee
- 2002 Saturn-Fantasy nominee
- Score: 28.52
Reviews
Amazon.com
The folks at Pixar can do no wrong with Monsters, Inc., the studio’s fourth feature film, which stretches the computer animation format in terms of both technical complexity and emotional impact. The giant, blue-furred James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (wonderfully voiced by John Goodman) is a scare-monster extraordinaire in the hidden world of Monstropolis, where the scaring of kids is an imperative in order to keep the entire city running. Beyond the competition to be the best at the business, Sullivan and his assistant, the one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), discover what happens when the real world interacts with theirs in the form of a 2-year-old baby girl dubbed “Boo,” who accidentally sneaks into the monster world with Sulley one night. Director Pete Doctor and codirectors David Silverman and Lee Unkrich follow the Pixar (Toy Story) blueprint with an imaginative scenario, fun characters, and ace comic timing. By the last heart-tugging shot, kids may never look at monsters the same, nor artists at what computer animation can do in the hands of magicians. —Doug Thomas
Barnes and Noble
The DVD edition of Monsters, Inc.—the latest Disney-Pixar collaboration—is really something to scream about. Its many supplemental features include the Academy Award-winning computer-animated short “For the Birds,” as well as a new animated short created for the DVD, “Mike’s New Car.” There are also exclusive “outtakes” and, for animation buffs, a behind-the-scenes look at the artistic evolution of the film, from abandoned concepts to animation tests. But Monsters, Inc.—an Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Feature and Oscar winner for Randy Newman’s rollicking ode to friendship, “If I Didn’t Have You”—is itself a sheer joy to behold. While the Disney-Pixar Toy Story films and A Bug’s Life revealed the secret lives of toys and insects, Monsters, Inc. confirms something that generations of children have always known: There really are monsters lurking in their bedroom closets! What they don’t know is that these beasts are employees of the titular corporation, and their job is to scare children—whose screams somehow fuel the power grid in Monstropolis (where monsters live). The real revelation here, though, is that monsters are deathly afraid of children. John Goodman is the voice of the bearlike Sully, Monsters, Inc.’s leading scream producer. His sidekick is Mike (Billy Crystal), a giant eyeball with a mouth, arms, and legs. Chaos ensues when a fearless little girl follows Sully through the closet door and into Monstropolis. Monsters, Inc. brims with visual invention (a climactic chase aboard an assembly line of closet doors is a particular tour de force), as well as in-jokes for keen-eyed viewers. Like the Toy Story films, it’s a state-of-the-art crowd pleaser. Donald Liebenson
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Related works
Monsters, Inc.: Original Soundtrack
Sandwiched between the opening and closing numbers of the Monsters, Inc. soundtrack is the sort of far-reaching score we’ve come to expect from Randy Newman. Up, down, and all around, we swerve through the standard Disney scramble: there’s a danger’s-near ditty, a tearjerker, a rally-the-troops energizer, a plucky peek-a-boo number, and, as befits the hit Disney/Pixar movie, a hefty chunk of liveliness. But to say this soundtrack is nothing special would be to shrug off a solid effort from a musical legend. How easy can it be, after all, to stir so many…
