Pixar Playlist #4 - Monsters, Inc.

Ladies and Gentlemen, whether you like it or not, the Pixar Playlist

What’s that monster hiding under your bed? Find out in Monsters Inc

Monsters Inc seems to be the Brainchild of Pete Doctor, who had had a major role in the production of all 3 of Pixar’s other films up to this point. This guy is a major talent at Pixar and made his directorial debut here, later going to make Pixar classics such as Up and Inside Out, both of which I intend to get to. He began working on the script during the Production of a Bugs’ Life, and after a lot of tweaking we got a story

Production required Pixar to step up their game, with the main character having over 2 million strands of hair, the task became about making them move correctly in accordance to the action of the character. The creation of Fizt the physics tool was a major breakthrough for them when it comes to the hair, and it also helped with another problem, clothing, although it took another algorithm to handle collision between different items of clothing.

This was Pixar’s most complex film, requiring more than double the number of micro-processors than Toy Story 2 to render.

So, do these innovations make Monsters Inc a good movie? Here are my thoughts.

Monsters Inc starts by setting up the monster world. It’s a decent attempt at world-building for the technology at the time but has been outshone since in movies like Zootopia. Long story short, the monster civilisation is powered by screams. Monsters, Inc. is the corporation that exists to produce that power

We’re introduced to James P. Sullivan, or Sully (John Goodman) and his partner, Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal). He’s a top scarer in a society that is running short on screams. One day he comes across a human child that doesn’t seem scared of him and manages to follow him into the Monster world. Monsters believe that a human touch can kill them, so I think we all know, hijinks are about to ensue.

Skipping ahead around 15 minutes, because nothing of consequence happens in those 15 minutes, their attempts to send the girl home lead to them discovering an evil plot to drain screams out of kidnapped victims orchestrated by Sully’s rival, Randal Boggs (Steve Buscemi) and their boss Henry J Waternoose III (James Coburn)

This premise of hiding a human girl in a world of monsters is kinda like a reverse ET, but I am thankful the hijinks element of the movie is kept short as the actual plot and world building are far more interesting to me.

I’ve got to give props to the animators first, though, this film looks really nice and has some amazing little set-pieces, in particular the climax with all the doors leading to the rooms of different children. John Goodman does a fantastic job as Sully. His voice is so civilised and nice, you really wouldn’t expect it out of such a monster but that’s exactly the point. It also helps you empathise with a character kids could otherwise find scary.

Mike is a little annoying in parts but is ultimately endearing. He’s genuine and a fairly optimistic character, which means in when we partake in the second act breakup that of course happens, it’s at a point when his hopes and dreams have all been shattered before him so it does feel understandable.

On the other hand, the purpose of the second act breakup is so characters hit their lowest moments and the odds feel even more insurmountable for the climax, it's generally also a catalyst for personal growth. I don’t feel that’s executed well here at all. Sully barely reacts beyond the moment itself, so there’s no character development for him (a problem that’s felt throughout the film) Mike’s absence is not felt as Sully heads off into the climax and Mike just shows up to help anyway, forgiven without any real effort being put into it.

You then realise there are no real character arcs in this film. The only arc I can see is the evolution of the world itself. And even that’s not very well handled; whilst we’re told there’s an energy shortage, we don’t see much of the consequences of it. This movie could’ve benefited immensely from a slightly longer running time, or cutting down the hijinks to its bare minimum. I feel the length was largely to keep costs down, $115m is a lot of money, and I suspect the development of new software and algorithms just to make this movie work was not cheap.

What this movie is is charming, I can’t think of a better word than that. The metaphors with the monsters are decent, the kid is kinda cute, although I’d love to see how they’d create her with today’s much better human animation. I respect the technical innovations that made this movie possible and the story is passable. A fine enough distraction for young children and nothing adults could find offensive, certainly better than a Bugs’ Life

#1 Toy Story 2

#2 Toy Story

#3 Monsters Inc

#4 A Bug’s Life