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 Monsters,
Inc.
"I'll
be bold enough to claim that Monsters Inc. is evidence that an entirely
new way of thinking of entertainment has taken root in our culture,
and is now being extended into children's entertainment. Let me
explain..."
Review by Greg Wright |
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Monsters,
Inc. Main page
About the Amazing Technology -pg 2
About the Origins -pg 3
About the Directors -pg 4
About Animating Memorial Monsters -pg
5
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Credits
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Directed
by Peter Docter David Silverman
Co-director: David Silverman
Writing credits: Dan Gerson and Andrew Stanton
Billy
Crystal .... Mike Wazowski (voice)
John Goodman .... James P. 'Sulley' Sullivan (voice)
James Coburn .... Henry J. Waternoose (voice)
Jennifer Tilly .... Celia (voice)
Bonnie Hunt .... Flint (voice)
Mary Gibbs .... Boo (voice)
Steve Buscemi .... Randall Boggs
Sam 'Penguin' Black .... George Sanderson (voice)
Daniel R. Gerson .... Needleman & Smitty (voice)
Frank Oz .... Fungus (voice)
Bob Peterson .... Roz (voice)
Jeff Pidgeon .... Bile (voice)
John Ratzenberger .... The Abominable Snowman (voice)
Steve Susskind .... Floor Manager (voice)
Produced
by Darla K. Anderson (producer), John Lasseter (executive producer),
Andrew Stanton (executive producer)
Original music by Randy Newman
Film Editing by Ken Schretzmann and Jim Stewart
Rated
G
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Monsters, Inc.
Soundtrack by Randy Newman
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You
won't believe your eye
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SYNOPSIS:
The Academy Award®-winning creators of "Toy Story"
open the door to a frightfully funny world of monsters and mayhem
and scare up lots of laughs in their new movie, "Monsters,
Inc." This witty and imaginative new computer animated adventure
is the latest film from Disney/Pixar (following "Toy Story,"
"A Bug's Life," and "Toy
Story 2") and is the second feature in the current five-picture
association between the two studios. Featuring the inspired vocal
talents of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly,
Steve Buscemi, Mary Gibbs, John Ratzenberger, Bob Peterson, Frank
Oz, and Bonnie Hunt, "Monsters, Inc." is a Wait Disney
Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios Film.
Pixar,
which celebrates its 15"' anniversary this year, makes its
boldest leap forward yet with "Monsters, Inc." The film
represents the studio's most advanced and sophisticated use of computer
animation technology to date, as it required 2.5 million rendermarks
(a measure of computing power) compared to the nearly 1.1 million
used on "Toy Story 2." Among
its many impressive technical achievements is the breakthrough depiction
of fur and hair, which has the shadowing, density, lighting, and
movement consistent with the real thing. This is seen to best advantage
with Sulley's feathery blue-green and purple spotted coat that includes
nearly 3 million individual hairs, and with Boo's hair and pigtails.
Another simulation program allowed Boo's T-shirt to move independently
of her body. This approach represented a major advance over Pixar's
previous experimentation with clothing on the short film "Geri's
Game" (the 1998 Oscar'-winning animated short film that played
in theaters with "A Bug's Life").
Set
in Monstropolis, a thriving company town where monsters of all shapes
and sizes reside, the film follows the hilarious misadventures of
James P. Sullivan (known to all as "Sulley") and his best
friend, roommate, and coworker, Mike Wazowski. Both work at Monsters,
Inc., the largest scream-processing factory in the monster world,
where Sulley is the top kid Scarer and Mike is his enthusiastic
Scare Assistant. The main power source in the monster world is the
collected screams of human children. At Monsters, Inc., an elite
team of Scarers is responsible for gathering those precious natural
resources. Complicating matters is the fact that monsters believe
human children to be toxic and direct contact with them is forbidden.
When a little girl (named Boo) accidentally follows Sulley back
into his world, he finds his career in jeopardy and his life in
utter chaos. Assisted by Mike, he schemes to rectify his mistake
but the trio becomes caught up in a series of complications and
unexpected intrigue beyond their wildest dreams.
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The Story
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 Since
the very first bedtime, children around the world have known that
once their parents tuck them into bed and shut off the lights, monsters
lie waiting behind closet doors, ready to emerge. But what they don't
realize is that for these monsters, it's nothing personal. It's just
their job. |
 Monstropolis
is home to a population of monsters of every shape and size. Their
main source of power is processed human screams and the largest scream
processing factory in town is Monsters, Inc. (or MI). Drawing from
the factory's vast inventory of "'closet doors,"
a team of elite monsters enters the human world on a nightly basis
to scare children and collect their screams. Making the task more
difficult is the fact that monsters believe children are toxic and
that direct contact with them would be catastrophic. The company's
CEO, Henry J. Waternoose, is faced with an energy crisis due to the
fact that kids don't scare as easily as they used to. |
 The
most valuable player at Monsters, Inc. is James P. Sullivan, or Sulley,
an eight foot tall, blue-green monster with purple spots and horns.
His Scare Assistant is a one-eyed lime-green monster named Mike Wazowski,
who also happens to be his roommate and best friend. Life is good
for this scare pair. Sulley is at the top of his game without an enemy
in the world - except creepy and competitive chameleon-like Randall
Boggs, the number two Scarer at the factory. Meanwhile, Mike's courtship
of the girl of his screams, Celia, the receptionist at MI, is starting
to take shape. |
 One
night, Sulley finds himself on the "Scare Floor" after hours
and discovers that a closet door has not been returned to the "door
vault."" Opening the door to investigate, he unwittingly
admits a young human girl into his world. Believing children to be
toxic,  Sulley
tries to overcome his own fear and put things right but finds his
situation worsening at every turn. He and Mike take the child - whom
Sulley names Boo - to their home until things cool down and they can
think of a plan. The next day they disguise Boo as a monster and take
her to the factory in the hopes of retrieving her door and sending
her safely home. |
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 Mike
and Sulley risk their own safety and security as they race to get
Boo back to the human world before someone discovers her presence.
Unbeknownst to them, they have stumbled upon a dastardly plot to
boost energy production and now inadvertently find that they stand
in the way of "progress."
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The Review:
Something New in Children's Movies
Review by Greg Wright
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| Monsters
Inc. is outstandingly creative entertainment that works surprisingly
well at both the adult and child's level. It's original, state of
the art, clever, engaging and, as we are used to in Pixar entertainment,
boldly executed by director John Lassiter and his staff. At the same
time, there's something new at work in Monsters Inc. that takes the
movie beyond the accomplishments of other animated successes like
Toy Story. What makes Monsters Inc. so appealing, though, is not the
technology employed, or even the vocal performances by John Goodman
and Billy Crystal; it's something elemental to the conception of the
movie. In fact, I'll be bold enough to claim that Monsters Inc. is
evidence that an entirely new way of thinking of entertainment has
taken root in our culture, and is now being extended into children's
entertainment. Let me explain. |
 THE
ART OF CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT
In our institutions of higher learning, literature students learn
that it is harder to write a good children's story than a good adult's
story. Why? Because at their heart, all successful children's stories
are transformational. It might be useful to use the terms "instructive"
or "moral" in describing children's literature; but these
words may have pejorative connotations. In conceiving of transformation,
however, it's easy to see that a good children's book affects the
young reader in such a way as to bring the child a step closer to
maturity. Very few successful children's books are pure entertainment;
even the bulk of Dr. Seuss is transformational literature. 
Much of classical children's literature may be thought of as falling
into the general "fairy tale" genre. In these stories, the
central figure (usually orphaned or in some other way underprivileged)
takes a journey or has a series of adventures in which he or she encounters
a variety of hardships, trials and disappointments. The central figure
must deal with a host of unsavory characters, sometimes even within
his or her own family. Eventually, the hero or heroine emerges victorious
over circumstances and foes, and learns some sort of valuable lesson
in the process. Vicariously, so does the child reading the story.
Taken as a body of literature, these classical tales instruct children
in the "true nature" of the world: there's a ton of evil
and sadness out there, and short of a magic cure, it's up to you and
you alone to get past it, because you can't rely on anyone else. The
basic theme is survival. Think of Hansel and Gretel (above right),
or Jack and the Beanstalk; even Oliver Twist. These are stories designed
to help children cope with a dark and broken world. |
 One
obvious movement in twentieth-century children's entertainment might
be called Modern Heroic. In this genre, the central figure is above-average
to average, and usually not underprivileged; but if so, the character
is secretly of high birth, or has some special gift or skill that
is hidden. In accomplishing the requisite journey or adventure, however,
the true "bad guys" are easily discernable; and the bulk of the character's
world is filled with "good guys," equally easily discernable. In emerging
victorious over circumstances and foes, the hero or heroine aids in
helping bring about "rightness" to the world. The basic theme is justice;
wrongs are redressed. Lessons are learned, both for the central character
and the child audience. As a body, Modern Heroic entertainment instructs
children that they are special, unique; and that is it their birthright
to be a part of overcoming the bad guys of the world. The kid next
door that you think may be your enemy really isn't; it's those guys
"over there." Think of Disney's Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves; think of Star Wars,
or even The Lord of the Rings
and Harry Potter . These are
stories designed to help children cope with the weight of responsibility
that comes with being the guardians of freedom in a World War torn
century. |
 Toward
the end of the twentieth century, a new mode of entertainment introduced
itself, first with adult audiences. It is easiest to call it Trekkian
Idealist. In this genre, obviously popularized in adult entertainment
through Star Trek and its spin-offs,
the central character is either an average Everyman, or surrounded
by a cast of supporting characters that's universal. There's no "secret
powers" or high birth involved; just average people in extraordinary
circumstances. The journey or adventure requires the heroic side to
work as a team; and there's no class of "bad guys," per se. There
are villains, certainly; but they tend to be individuals, not generally
representative of a group. Through victory, the heroes affirm that
diversity is good, that tolerance and good will are admirable, and
that people must be dealt with as individuals. The basic theme of
Trekkian Idealism is understanding. These are stories that help people
deal with the problems of a pluralized, non-homogenous and increasingly
global culture.
Trekkian Idealism is largely irrelevant in war-torn places like the
Middle East, central Africa and Malaysia. It is even difficult for
Trekkian Idealism to be relevant in America in the wake of the World
Trade Center attack. |
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 TREKKIAN
IDEALISM IN MONSTERS INC.
And yet, perhaps for the first time, this idealism surfaces in children's
entertainment. And, I might add, in a powerful realization of the
potential of the genre. Monsters Inc. presents a Trekkian Idealist
world from the other side of the mirror. The audience gets the proverbial
chance to walk a mile in the other guys' shoes: we find out what
"monsters" are afraid of, what "monsters" like, and even what "monsters"
need. Most importantly, we find out that the "monsters" we are afraid
of think that we are monsters, too. And that the "monsters'" fear
of us is no better founded than our fear of them.
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 A
key aspect to the story is that when Sulley first encounters Boo,
she has no reason to fear him. Randall has contrived to have access
to Boo's door so that he can kidnap her; and when Sulley enters her
room, it is not with the flair that he later demonstrates in the training
room. As a result, Boo, in her unsullied naïveté (pardon
the pun), sees nothing threatening in Sulley at all; which is right,
since we all know that John Goodman is nothing but a big pussycat,
anyway (begging the pardon of Barton Fink). 
Naturally, it's only a matter of time before Mike and Sulley learn
that Boo is nothing to be afraid of. It's then also only a matter
of time before a Human and a Vulcan (alien, monster) share the bridge
of the Enterprise, if you get my drift. And indeed, the conclusion
of the movie envisions a world in which individuals responsible for
wrongdoing have been punished; but, more importantly, a world in which
children have been reconciled with "monsters." |
 THE
UPSHOT
Is this really startlingly new? If so, what are the implications?
Well, imagine the same approach being taken with Star Wars. First,
the story would be told from the perspective of the Empire, not the
rebellion. When the princess is taken captive, her behavior would
be kind, gracious and engaging, not condescending, rude and, well,
rebellious. Soon the Empire would find out that those serfs they are
trying to dominate are really pretty fun people, and better to have
as friends than enemies. Darth Vader, who discards the black cape
and helmet, deposes the Emperor, gets some good plastic surgery, and
goes on to host game shows. But is this good? Don't we need Darth
Vader and the Evil Empire to help us understand the World Trade Center
and Bin Laden? Is Monsters Inc. a useful worldview for our children? |
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I think
those answers are yes, no, and yes. Children in Arab nations have
been raised to hate and fear Americans for a number of reasons;
and as long as the bombs keep falling, they will think they have
been taught correctly. I am aware this is an insanely naïve
thing to say. But it may also be profoundly spiritual. If our children
are to live as adults free of the fear of terrorism, it will take
a transformational change of renewed minds in the present. After
all, Jesus said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you... What good is it if you only love those who love
you? Doesn't everyone do that?" And this wasn't just theory
for Jesus; he acted on it, and taught us to do the same.
Monsters Inc. is both realistic and morally responsible in saying,
?Hey, you know those guys we were raised to fear and hate? There?s
a few bad eggs in there, all right, who need to be dealt with (and
who doesn?t have a few of those?); but we were just flat wrong about
the rest!?
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The
Photo Gallery
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Monsters,
Inc. Main page
About the Amazing Technology -pg 2
About the Origins -pg 3
About the Directors -pg 4
About Animating Memorial Monsters -pg
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MONSTER
INC
Subject: update?
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002
From: "Colin and Diane Maxwell"
hi there, any
chance of an update on this site? We use your site regularly for
helping with relevant christian ideas and want to see what's been
said about Monsters inc. Many thanks, Diane.
Response:
It has been updated with an excellent review by Greg Wright -David
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OFFICIAL
SITE
Monster, Inc ©2001 - Disney/Pixar Pictures
- All Rights Reserved.
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