Monsters, Inc.
Year: 2001
Rating: G
Length: 92 minutes / 1.53 hours
Early Pixar films always had a way of being grounded in our reality. The toys in Toy Story (1995) had to make sense as toys. The insects in A Bug’s Life (1998) were all known insects. It wasn’t until Monsters, Inc. (2001) when an entire world had to be created to explain the “monster in the closet” fear most children grow up with. And while this film is definitely another tech demo to show how good Pixar had gotten at simulating cloth and fur, the plot itself is one of the most original pieces Pixar has ever created.
Coming up with dozens of different monster designs was only the first step. That Pixar created a world designed for these monsters to live and work in was the basic follow-up, but creating a whole system of door portals that could access any room in the human world was genius. And having screams power the whole thing? That’s the cherry on top of this amazing idea that was superbly executed. I’m just glad I can appreciate the anti-Capitalist message as an adult—much like the pro-union message of A Bug’s Life just a few years prior.
By this point, Pixar had started pulling out the tearjerkers. Toy Story 2 (1999) introduced heavy emotional stakes, but Monsters, Inc. carried it to the next level. Even if Boo still suffers a little bit from that early CGI inability to render realistic humans, the connection Sully (John Goodman) forges with her is something that makes the ending hit so well. Pair this with the expert comedic counterbalance with Mike (Billy Crystal), and it’s a recipe for success (cliche second act falling out, notwithstanding). Monsters, Inc. wasn’t my favorite Pixar film growing up, but it’s definitely grown on me as I’ve aged.
An original Pixar concept full of laughs and tears, I give Monsters, Inc. 4.5 stars out of 5.
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