Monsters, Inc - DVD Review

MOVIE
VIDEO
AUDIO
EXTRAS
OVERALL

Two Discs
1.77:1 Anamorphic Widescreen/1.33:1 Full Screen
English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
English Subtitles
Original Theatrical Trailers, Teaser & TV Spots
Audio Commentary
Short: Mike's New Car
Short: For The Birds
Outtakes
Games
Pixar Studio Tour
Behind The Scenes Footage
Production Stills
Early Tests
Design Stills
Run Time: 93 Minutes
Keep Case (Single Size, Double Disc)

MOVIE
Rated G, Take the family

God Bless Pixar! A handful of years ago, I suggested that Disney should just give up and turn over their entire development department to the people at Pixar. This was before I saw Toy Story 2. BEFORE I saw Toy Story 2. Sorry, I think that just is worth repeating. These guys are something, though. First shot, right out of the box, first computer animated movie EVER and we get Toy Story? This was more than we deserved guys. Normally the trend breaking film would have that alone going for it, that it's trend breaking. You guys take your time and put together one of the greatest kids movies ever made and make it under the Disney umbrella almost as if to say: "Hey, you remember Disney? Take a look at this!" And we looked. And we loved. Then you brought us A Bug's Life. Granted, not as good as Toy Story, showed a bit of a sophomore slump, but was still better than 99% of the other animated movies out there. This was the year Disney gave us the nice to look at but ultimately uninspired and empty Mulan, and churned out several not so nice direct to video sequels. You were off making your own direct to video sequel, Toy Story 2. But before I blow my cool and gush all over that film, I'll turn to the subject at hand. Monsters, Inc. God bless you, Pixar.
After raising the bar on yourself with Toy Story 2 and seeing the first major computer animated movie from another studio, Shrek, come out that summer to wide acclaim and a huge box office, you make another quiet and thoughtful film, that lets itself be loud and funny. I must admit I wasn't ecstatic about Monsters, Inc. upon first viewing. It felt too short, too thin to me. Well, I was spoiled. I went looking for Toy Story 2 magic, something that would get inside me and curl up by a fire, bringing warmth and recognition to a soul that should be too old for that kids stuff. Monsters, Inc. upon second viewing blew me away.
So, no. It's NOT as good as Toy Story 2. Or Toy Story one for that matter, but it IS as great as A Bug's Life and still deserves a spot on Disney's mantelpiece. Perhaps we could knock some of those other less deserving films off there. (While we're at it, we might need to slap Disney upside the head and force them to give a little recognition to those classics in the vault that you don't tout as much as the others, namely Robin Hood and The Sword In The Stone)
So Monsters, Inc. is the story of James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski (voiced by John Goodman and Billy Crystal respectively) two denizens of Monstropolis, the world on the other side of our closet door. There's an energy shortage in Monstropolis, a city powered by the sound of children's screams and Sully is the number one scarcer, bringing in more screams than any other monster on a nightly basis. Randall (voiced by Steve Buscemi) is a jealous number two and is willing to do anything to up his score and lower Sully's, or get him kicked out for good. Sully, late one night finds a lone door on the scare floor and opens it, finding a little girl's empty room. Accidentally, he lets said little girl out. She's a toddler and has mastered producing words, just not English. She babbles around the office and Sully must hide her because the penalty for bringing "a toxic human child" into Monstropolis is terribly severe. With Mike's help, and avoiding Randall and their crablike boss Watternoose (voiced by James Coburn) they have to get the child they affectionately name Boo back to her own world.
What a great idea. Once again, the guys at Pixar have taken a normal and every day thought for kids (There are monsters in my closet, my toys come to life when I leave the room, I wonder what the ant queendom is like) and crafted a story that is not only interesting to adults as well, but touching, and funny. They've continually upped the ante on technical feats, with A Bug's Life's flowers and landscapes, Toy Story 2's dust and now Monster's Inc.'s hair. Creating an enormous creature covered in realistic hair was a feat that was almost unthinkable, but they did it. Sully's hair is fascinating to look at and you may find yourself pausing the DVD to just look every once in a while (much to your children's dismay, of course.) In addition, they've created a world that looks like it was built out of clay, strange creatures lurking everywhere, but they're just in their environment.
The moments between Sully and Mike are priceless bits of comedy near the level of any great comedy pair, Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, The Marx Brothers (okay, they're not a pair, but Groucho could be a pair by himself.) The menace of Randall, who bears more than a passing resemblance to voicer Steve Buscemi, is real and palpable, and this isn't a strutting theatrical villain, this is a deeper menace hidden behind a juvenile jerk. But where Monster's, Inc. really shines is the relationship between Sully, an eight foot blue hairy monster and Boo, a two foot, happy as a clam two year old who's only recognizable words are "Kitty" (her name for Sully) "Boo" (she loves to play hide and seek) and "Mike Wazowski" (something she can't stop saying.) The quiet moments between these two are so touching it almost hurts and their goodbye (and don't get mad at me about Spoilers, you knew there'd be a goodbye) is another one of those "I've felt that" moments that Pixar does better than anyone else.

VIDEO QUALITY
Another direct from the computer to the DVD transfer with no film in between. Digital to digital. The picture looks tremendous, with the colors popping and the blacks pure. I don't need to say anything about scratches or grain, or artifacts, because there simply aren't any and there never will be. In ten years, when Digital Filmmaking goes mainstream, this will become the norm, and all the "great looking" films on DVD now will look positively terrible, much like those brand new VHS tapes that looked fantastic. But I am aware that there's only so far quality can go on a flat TV screen. When we go 3D it'll be a whole new world. The film is presented both in 1.77:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and a reformatted (not quite pan & scan) 1.33:1 Full Screen. Like A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2, Pixar digitally recomposed shots for the full screen version, moving characters closer, rearranging positions. This results in a richer Full Screen experience. While still not happy that we're losing some information in the backgrounds, I can condone watching any of these Pixar movies full frame.

AUDIO QUALITY
The audio is nearly as flawless as the pictures and, once again, uses the full range of the 5.1 EX. Sounds move around the room and over your head with much action happening in the rear two channels. As with the Toy Story movies, a separate sound effects only track is available without incidental music or dialogue so you can just listen to the spectacular work done to make this world come alive through sound, because, as you know, on an animated film, EVERY sound needs to be created.

EXTRAS
And, again, as with their previous releases (except the movie only versions of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and that crappy first "Disney Classics" release of A Bug's Life) this DVD contains more extras then we could or should ever hope for starting with another terribly enjoyable Pixar Commentary with Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, Andrew Stanton, John Lasseter, the big guys at Pixar and a special phone call to another Pixar fellow. They take us through the LONG development process of ideas through final story, touching base on all the characters that changed, how a digital film is composed, the difficulties, the simplicities and more. A wonderfully informative track.
The second disc is divided up into two separate sections, the human side and the monster side. In front of those two options we have the outtakes reel that was attached to later prints of the film. These outtakes aren't as funny as those on Toy Story 2, but have a priceless running gag with a character from the film. Worth it for that alone. Next is the brand new short film Mike's New Car that is likely to win Best Animated Short, but isn't as funny as For The Birds (the other animated short that won last year) or as touching as Luxo, Jr or as strange and wonderful as Gerry's Game. But it's still delightful to see, er, hear John Goodman and Billy Crystal reprising their roles as Sully and Mike.
Going into the Human Side of the DVD will begin with a tour of the Pixar Animation Studio that is enormous and makes you entirely jealous that you don't get to work in that kind of environment instead sitting before a tiny computer with only Word to keep you company, day in and day out for the rest of your-- sorry. In this section are various doors leading to production shorts. We get to see all the hair tests (including one that goes spectacularly wrong) early animation of Mike and Sully, when Mike had no arms and Sully was named Johnson and was brown. There are abandoned concepts and the original story pitch, all almost entirely different from the final film, making one wonder how they got to this great idea, and thankful that they abandoned those. . .not so great ideas. My favorite section was a demonstration of binaural sound that you should get your headphones out to experience completely.
The Monster side of the DVD is really more for kids than DVD enthusiasts, with games and things of that ilk. The standouts are the Monsters, Inc. commercial from the film, a great "Welcome to the company" type training video that to anyone who's had a lot of jobs with videos, will be hilarious. Then there's an orientation booklet you can page through and a collection of Monsters, Inc scarer trading cards, all read by the dweebs in the film. Great for kids and worth an initial look from others.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
Upon second viewing, I realized that Monsters, Inc. is indeed a treasure worthy of a spot on my shelf next to the Toy Story films and A Bug's Life. It is truly a shame that Shrek won best picture over it for, while Shrek is a wonderful film, Monsters, Inc. truly had more heart and was more deserving. Buy this one, a two-disc set loaded with extras that, like A Bug's Life, if released a few years ago would've run you nearly forty dollars. Wonderful. Oh, and the kids'll like it too.