Pixar releases another carefully upgraded catalog title with Monsters, Inc. Although now belonging to the first half of their impressive collection of films, it is no less fun for the aging, and looks amazing in high definition.

The Movie

Monstropolis is a bustling, modern city of colorful monsters, many of whom work for Monsters, Inc., where human children's screams are captured and turned into wonderful, delicious electricity that powers the city. But beware, because the children themselves are toxic!* Which is why professional scarers are needed: get in, scare, get out, no fuss. James P. "Sully" Sullivan (John Goodman) is the top scarer at the company, and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) is his partner. Together they've been top of the heap of scarers for as long as most can remember. Unfortunately, one of those "most" is the jealous lizard Randall (Steve Buscemi) who is tired of being number two. After accidentally letting a child - Boo - wander into the Monsters world, and further realizing that children aren't really a threat**, Sully must both keep her a secret to avoid his own contamination, and also to figure out a way to get her safely home. But when Randall finds out about the girl, who is on his list of scarees... well, let's just say he's the bad guy in this pageant.

Monsters, Inc. expertly balances the difficult feat of being genuinely funny, while also being touching and warmhearted (and junk). If you laugh out loud at the pimply monster interns at the factory, that's totally fine. And if you later get a little misty when Sully has to say goodbye to Boo, then hey, we'll give you a moment. Pixar somehow consistently manages to set formula plot development inside absurdly non-formulaic settings, which helps out both sides. Monsters, Inc. taps into the same fantasy-meets-human world that Toy Story began, and is at least as good in execution. It's great to reconnect with a movie like this, after being distracted by several more recent offerings, and to find it just as fresh and enjoyable as when it came out.

Video/Audio

Disney continues to put the ultimate care into their Blu-ray releases (and I wish more companies would follow their lead), and combined with Pixar's obsessive level of quality, we once again have a near-reference grade hi-def release. The video is simply stunning. An impeccably clean transfer that allows you to study as much detail as you care to, Monsters, Inc. provides fans with a release that has been worth the wait. Color is spot-on, black levels are impressive, no digital compression is evident and all points work together to bring the very colorful and textured world of Monstropolis to life.

Article Author: David R Perry

Lost somewhere in the rolling hills of Tennessee, David R Perry can occasionally be found doing dark, unspeakable things to words. Printed words, spoken words, electronically mangled words... really any kind but twittered words.

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