Blu-ray Review: Monsters, Inc.

Billy Crystal and John Goodman provide the voices for Mike Wazowski and James P. "Sully" Sullivan respectively, two monsters who work together at Monsters, Inc. and live together in Monstropolis, a unique world parallel to the human world where a little girl named Boo changes Mike and Sully forever.

Pixar/Disney filmmakers have re-released this G-rated 2001 animated masterpiece in very special four-disc edition which includes a standard DVD, a digital copy, and two Blu-ray discs packed with powerful extras, features, and bonus content in 1080p high definition (1.78:1) and DTS-HD Master audio, which really showcases the effective realism.

The texture and realistic three-dimensional movements in the computer-generated images allow filmmakers to go beyond two-dimensional emotions of heartfelt classics like Bambi and reach audiences on a very personal level. The film’s tense moments are peppered with humor and complemented with love and caring emotions, so little ones will probably not be scared most of the time.

Steve Buscemi provides the voice for the antagonist monster, Randall, who has chameleon-like characteristics, and the young Mary Gibbs voices Boo, the main human character in the story. Bonnie Hunt, Frank Oz, and John Ratzenberger also provide voice talent for the colorful monster characters. Wooster, Ohio native Bob Peterson gets a nice showcase as the memorable manager Roz in the interactive “100 Door Challenge” trivia extra.

This film evokes such strong emotions it will be hard to forget and will probably leave you a bit emotional by the end. The story doesn’t venture much beyond Sully and Mike’s apartment and the workplace, though there are amazing streetscapes, a brief walk by the “grossery” street markets, and an extended scene at a restaurant which features an octopus-like cook.

The initial scene of the monster workplace resembles the 1997 film Men in Black, where the audience sees a diverse roll call of strange, interesting-looking creatures going about their daily business. It would’ve been nice to get a good look at “Ted,” but there are plenty of opportunities for laughs that range from locker room antics to clever workplace mottoes.

The beginning monster functions, mainly scaring kids, quickly melt into laughter that balances the scares throughout most of the film. Everything depends on this “scare” energy, so the stakes are high, especially for the antagonistic monsters. Sully and Mike represents one of the best working teams harnessing this energy under the direction of their boss, Henry Waterbridge, voiced well by James Coburn. Besides facing societal pressures due to an energy shortage, Sully and Mike must retain their lead in the employee quota contest.

Article Author: Tall Writer

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