Monsters, Inc. (DVD)

Welcome to Monstropolis, the bustling city that is home to monsters James P. Sullivan aka Sulley and Mike Wazowski. Life in Monstropolis pretty much echoes that of life in a human city - on their way to work Sulley and Mike pass monster children skipping in the street, they see other monsters going about their daily business (like a monster trying to read a paper but burning it to cinders when he sneezes a fireball), and greet friends like Tony, ...
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However, the inhabitants of Monstropolis are facing a power crisis. Sulley and Mike work at Monsters Inc., the largest scream processing factory in Monstropolis, where collected children's screams are their power source. The trouble is, children are becoming harder to scare and it doesn't help that the monsters themselves are terrified of human children - they believe that they are toxic and dangerous. So when a human child manages to find ... more

Welcome to Monstropolis, the bustling city that is home to monsters James P. Sullivan aka Sulley and Mike Wazowski. Life in Monstropolis pretty much echoes that of life in a human city - on their way to work Sulley and Mike pass monster children skipping in the street, they see other monsters going about their daily business (like a monster trying to read a paper but burning it to cinders when he sneezes a fireball), and greet friends like Tony, who works at their local Grossery (get it? :P)

However, the inhabitants of Monstropolis are facing a power crisis. Sulley and Mike work at Monsters Inc., the largest scream processing factory in Monstropolis, where collected children's screams are their power source. The trouble is, children are becoming harder to scare and it doesn't help that the monsters themselves are terrified of human children - they believe that they are toxic and dangerous. So when a human child manages to find her way in, the entire population of Monstropolis is thrown into panic - chaos and adventures ensue as Mike and Sulley do their best to return the little girl home.

Characters
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James P. Sullivan - AKA Sulley - voiced by John Goodman
-- As Top Scarer at Monsters Inc., Sulley is about to break the all-time scare record; this is, before he makes a discovery that changes his life forever. Sulley's a good guy, he works hard but always tries to do the right thing. He might be a monster, buthe's a great big, furry, cuddly one - a gentle giant. John Goodman is perfect as the voice of Sulley, portraying him as a strong character with a good heart, he just adds warmth to him. I couldn't imagine anyone else voicing Sulley.

Mike Wazowski - voiced by Billy Crystal
-- Sulley's Scare Assistant and best friend Mike is pretty much the opposite of Sulley. He's much more forgetful and disorganised and often relies on Sulley to get him out of a fix though we do see him pull his weight more as the film goes on. Little, round and green with one eye, he's not as soft as Sulley - neither on the outside nor the inside, but there is a softer side to him that emerges. Billy Crystal voices what I think is the funniest character although that's often because we're laughing at Mike, not with him. Billy Crystal gets Mike's emotions across very well, where we see Mike angry or scared, or when we see a sadder, softer side to him, this is portrayed very well in his voice - and of course we get to hear him sing!

Boo - voiced by Mary Gibbs
-- Eep! By far the scariest character, just the sight of Boo throws every monster in Monstropolis into panic - a human child!! Boo is the most adorable little girl I've ever seen, and she's not even real. You can see she's got a mischevious, curious nature - probably how she ended up in the monster's world in the first place and it's heart-warming to see her relationship with Sulley and Mike progress as she faces her fears.

Henry J. Waternoose III - voiced by James Coburn
-- Monsters Inc. has been in his family for three generations and Mr Waternoose will do anything to ensure its survival. Rather crab-like in his appearance, he's a deceptive character.

Randall Boggs - voiced by Steve Buscemi
-- Randall's a very sly character, Sulley's main rival and contender in breaking the all-time scare record. He's also the monster assigned to scare Boo - so he's the monster she's most afraid of. The actor behind Randall really brings out his sneery side.

Celia - voiced by Jennifer Tilly
-- She's pretty much Mike's (or Googly Bear as she likes to call him) other half, though they have a bit of a volatile relationship, mostly due to Mike letting her down. After falling for excuse after excuse she's about to give up on him when she realises that just for once one of his far-fetched stories might actually be the truth. They make quite a sickly, but therefore quite humorous couple.

Roz - voiced by Bob Peterson
-- Roz also works in Monsters Inc. and is forever having to chase up Mike to fill in his paperwork. She's a very creepy character if you ask me, but she really comes into her own in the special features.

Quotes
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[a monster runs out of a door, scared to tears]
Assistant: What happened?
Monster: The kid almost touched me. She got this close to me.
A: She wasn't scared of you? She was only six!
M: I could have been dead. I could have DIED.
A: [slapping monster] Keep it together, man.

TV Anchorman: If witnesses are to be believed, there has been a child security breach for the first time in monster history.
CDA Agent (Child Detection Agency): We can neither confirm nor deny the presence of a human child here tonight.
Witness #1: Well the kid flew right over me and blasted a car with its laser vision.
Witness #2: I tried to get away, but he picked me up with his mind powers and shook me like a doll!
Witness #3 [has many eyes] It's true! I saw the whole thing!
Professor on TV: It is my professional opinion that now is the time to...PANIC!!

Sulley: Hey Mike, this might sound crazy but I don't think that kid's dangerous.
Mike: Really? Well, in that case, let's keep it. I always wanted a pet...THAT COULD KILL ME!

There are so many more quotes I could choose from this film - there are some really funny lines, from all the characters, even those very minor characters, like Needleman and Smitty, who also work in Monsters Inc.

My Opinion
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The film is top notch - there is a great plot for children but there's something there for the adults to enjoy too. There's actually an important message for children - that facing your fears can make you stronger. There's the sort of humour that works on a younger child's level - lots of silly attempts on Mike's part to get Boo to laugh, but there are loads of one-liners which an adult audience will appreciate too.

The animation is fantastic - in every scene Sulley's coat passes the test - there are some scenes where it just looks so real! The way each individual hair moves is so life-like, well as life-like as is possible for a giant, furry blue monster!! And there's a scene where Boo's teeth are chattering which again is spot on!

The music throughout the film always reflects the mood - generally very lively but never irritating. You even get Mike singing a bit in the film - the end credits, which Mike and Sulley sing together, are a treat - ♫ I wouldn't have nothing if I didn't have you ♫

I absolutely love this film, I only have one criticism of it. I don't like the ending of the film - it all finishes very nicely and happily but I hate that the film stops where it does. For children it's perfect though, because they can imagine all the adventures that the characters would go on to have after the film has ended. But I'm just being a big kid here in not wanting the film to end at all because I love it so much!

DVD Extras
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As you'd expect, there's more here for the little ones than anything else, but still worth a look.

♥ Finding Nemo trailer - nothing interesting to say about this one.

♥ For The Birds - this was the 2001 Academy Award Winner for Best Animated Short Film - it's quite funny and I think most children would enjoy watching this.

♥ Mike's New Car - this is a short piece which is very funny - definitely worth watching. It's exclusive to the DVD and video too.

♥ Peek-A-Boo: Boo's Door Game - the children will enjoy this - you have to reunite Sulley and Boo buy finding pieces of Boo's door hidden in various bedrooms around the world. Mike gives you instructions on how to play, and there are on-screen instructions too.

♥ Disney's Story Time: Welcome to Monstropolis - another fun one for the children. Probably best after seeing the film, in the guise of a tour around Monsters Inc. with Roz as your guide, it's a basically a summary of the film again with the important message that sometimes it is good to face your fears. You can choose to have it read aloud to you, or you can read it yourself. Again, all the information on how to use this is given on screen so the children shouldn't have too much trouble.

♥ Outtakes - these are played at the end of the film but you can choose to see them full-screen in the extras section. These are obviously all put on, you see things like Sulley tripping up, or Mike messing up his lines and Roz makes a few startling appearances. This is worth watching again just for the Company Play at the end - Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me! This is hilarious!!

♥ Abandoned Concepts - Here you get to see ideas that didn't quite make it into the film - it's shown using sketches of the monsters and different voices, which makes it a little more difficult to follow but still, worth a watch.

Technical Info
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The menu can be a little slow to load when you put it into your DVD player, mainly because of those warning things come up that most people don't even read the first time they watch the DVD, let alone any time after that. There are trailers for other Disney DVDs but you can thankfully skip through these, then the menu will start to load - lots of doors rushing across your screen, doors opening and closing, the odd scream here and then before the menu finally loads. Again, you can get a little impatient but bear with it....trust me.

You'll get a couple more of these advertising thing that you get once a film starts - the credits which advertise the people who do the sound for the film and so on - annoyingly enough you can't skip through this but there aren't too many of them and then you're straight into the film.

Thankfully the menus on the DVD are easy to navigate your way through, so if you're watching it with the kids, or maybe leaving them to it (perhaps not recommended for the first time they see the film) it's not hard to find your way around the extras and special features. I've found with other DVDs sometimes the menus don't fully load and you either can't see the different options at all, or you can't see which one you're currently highlighting and therefore can't work out which one you're selecting. However, this isn't a problem with Monsters Inc.

Putting the DVD into your player you'll get the option of English, German, French, Italian or Spanish. Choose the French, Italian or Spanish and you'll automatically get English audio with the relevant subtitles. Choosing German however will play the movie with German audio. Because it's animated you don't really get that annoying situation where the lips are moving but they're not saying anything that you get from dubbed films. I've watched this film in German and enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed the English version.

Subtitles are available in: English, English for the hearing impaired, German, French, Italian, Spanish. Note though that subtitles aren't available for all bonus material.

Running Time: 88 mins approx.

Rating: Universal (though it is recommended that you watch it with your children on their first viewing)

A Region 2 single disc DVD will cost you £15.99 on Amazon, though obviously you'll be able to pick it up for much cheaper than this elsewhere.

Overall I've been very impressed with my copy of this DVD, it's stood the test of time - I've had it for about a year and a half now and though I don't watch it regularly I have watched it a lot. I sometimes skip certain scenes and have noticed other DVDs tend to skip a little on their own if I do this. I have taken reasonable care of my copy it has to be said - this isn't the case with some of my other DVDs, which get left on the side before I put them back into the case, but I've found that Monsters Inc. has stood the test of time so I should probably make more of an effort with my other DVDs. Though my DVD player can be a little bit temperamental from time to time I've never had a problem playing this DVD. My dad, too, has watched this on his computer and remarked at the great quality of the picture. I'm not one for understanding technology all that well and to be honest as long as I can see what's going on without annoying fuzzy lines or anything like that I'm not too fussed. But to impress my dad, well that's saying something.

Conclusion
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You really do not need kids as an excuse, this is a great film for all ages and I definitely recommend watching it. I didn't enjoy Toy Story all that much, I've seen Finding Nemo but no other animated film has managed to capture me the way Monsters Inc. did. It's one of my favourite films and I cannot recommend it more! This isn't a film that I went out of my way to see, infact I actively avoided it for some time but I'm so glad that I saw it.

*Random completely useless fact for you: Mike Wazowski is actually called Bob Wazowski in the French version - no idea why, but he is. 

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