Monsters, inc.

365 Films

Entry #134

Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Directed by Pete Docter

I remember anticipating Monsters, Inc. with a certain amount of trepidation.  Sure, Toy Story 2 had proven that Pixar was the real deal but this was the first film not to be directed by Pixar stalwart, John Lasseter.  How could anybody else come even remotely close to matching the talent that Lasseter had proven to be.  Luckily, director Pete Docter and co-directors Lee Unkrich and David Silverman (of The Simpsons fame) were far more than capable in carrying the Pixar baton.  If anything, Monsters reminded us how much a filmmaking studio like Pixar could benefit from a little organizational shake-up such as this one.  Pushing the technological envelope as well as their own story telling limits, Monsters was the start of the Pixar revolution, the film that finally announced to the world what the studio was truly capable of accomplishing.  Furthering the world building ingenuity on display in the two Toy Story films and A Bug’s Life, one get the sense from Monsters that the filmmakers were truly pushing themselves.  Moving away from the nostalgic confines of the great outdoors or a child’s bedroom allowed the story a certain kind of freedom in which to develop what has become a thematic obsession for the studio: the perilous terrain of childhood.  In a genius stroke, the voice of Boo was recorded by simply capturing the natural sounds of a child at play (one who happened to be the daughter of a Pixar story artist).  The result is that Boo never comes off as precocious or obnoxious in the way that so many other animated children have the tendency to be.  The same goes for the entirety of the film itself, for when it was released the inevitable comparisons were made to DreamWorks’ enterprising Shrek franchise.  Shrek somehow beat out Monsters for the animated Oscar (that’s a stain that should have shamed some people into retirement) and the general vibe of the culture that year indicated that the cool-vibe was decidedly in Shrek’s court.  Time and an insufferable amount of sequels (we’ll see how the recently released Monsters University holds up) have not been kind to the Shrek franchise, while Monsters has been allowed to age gracefully.  The result is that now we can see Monsters’ incredibly personal proclamation about the childhood glories of hope and wonder in much better definition than before and perhaps most importantly, the film lives up to the sentiment.  Devoid of dated pop culture references scattered throughout and obnoxious celebrity voice over work that distracts more than it delights, Monsters, Inc. is a touching testament to the craft and grace required for a piece of art to truly engage the mind of a child.  That so many other pretenders of the medium claim to do the same thing is an insult at best and damaging to a young mind at worse.  The fact that it all culminates with one of the most satisfying final shots in all of cinema (let alone animation) speaks volumes to the care and integrity that ring loudly throughout Pixar’s best work, of which Monsters is most definitely a part.