I’ve loved Pixar from a very young age, but if there was one film from this particular animation studio that I watched more than any other, it was probably Monsters, Inc., Pixar’s fourth animated feature. What child wouldn’t love a story about a young girl being protected by two very loveable monsters?
What is striking about Monsters, Inc. is the incredibly inventive world that has been created. In order for the monster world to have a sufficient amount of energy, it is the titular company’s job to send monsters through children’s doors to scare them, and their screams provide the monster world with the resources it needs to continue functioning properly. The top scarer of this company is a fluffy blue monster named Sulley (John Goodman), who’s assisted by his small, awkward one-eyed companion named Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal). Sulley has a jealous rival, Randall (Steve Buscemi), a sly, menacing lizard creature, who brings in a door when everyone else is off duty to try to boost his numbers and overtake Sulley as the company’s best scarer. However, this eventually leads to a young girl named Boo (Mary Gibbs) entering the monster world, and the hilariously ironic thing about this is that the monsters are terrified of a sweet, innocent girl, rather than vice versa.
Sulley and Mike are initially terrified of her, but they eventually bond with Boo (especially Sulley, who is much more open-minded and less prone to panicking than Mike). But the monster world essentially goes on lockdown trying to look for this child, and it is up to two very unlikely heroes to protect Boo from harm whilst also trying to keep their jobs, whether they’ve completely warmed to her or not.
Monsters, Inc. works really well because, not only is the world extremely creative, the characters are so entertaining to watch. Mike Wazowski was one of my favourite film characters growing up and I still love him to this day; his anxious yet very sarcastic nature always makes me chuckle, especially when he is verbally mocking Sulley. There is one scene in particular where Mike makes up a song on the spot which is guaranteed to make every single young viewer giggle relentlessly. The characters are so enjoyable partly due to the great voice work from John Goodman, who provides Sulley with a significant level of dignity, and Billy Crystal, who always sounds like he is on edge, a perfect piece of voice acting for a character like Mike.
The film doesn’t quite rank as one of Pixar’s greatest features, however. The story isn’t as complex as some of the other films and it does suffer from having rather standard villains that aren’t that unique or interesting, although you do feel the weight of their threat as the story progresses. Nevertheless, Monsters, Inc. has such loveable protagonists that you can forgive it for any of its minor downfalls, and the friendship that develops between Sulley and Boo is surprisingly believable. It’s difficult to not tear up at Sulley’s goodbye as the film draws to an end, especially when it’s clear that Boo doesn’t entirely grasp the concept of him leaving her for good.
It’s not particularly thought-provoking, but that in no way means that Monsters, Inc. is a bad Pixar animation. It’s good. In fact, it’s very good. The animation still holds up, the attention to detail for this world is astounding and it’s a very amusing buddy comedy about two monsters who end up in the worst situation possible. It may not resonate with adults as much as the likes of Up or Inside Out, but it’s a cute, colourful adventure that will provide you with an abundance of laughs.
★★★★
Rating system out of 5 stars
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