Monsters, Inc. is the fourth animated feature produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on November 2 2001, and in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2002.
The original story was written by Robert L. Baird, Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett Reese, Jonathan Roberts and Andrew Stanton. It was directed by Peter Docter, Lee Unkrich and David Silverman.
Monsters, Inc. premiered in the United States on October 28, 2001, and went into general release on November 2, 2001 with the best opening ticket sales ever for an animated film and the sixth best of all time.
Plot
| Spoiler Warning: The following contains important plot details of the entire film. |
The story is set in Monstropolis, a city inhabited by "monsters" who are the ones who come out of the closet to scare children. This is used to collect the screams of kids, which power the city. The main power company in the city is called Monsters, Inc. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is a crab-like monster called Henry J. Waternoose (voiced by the late James Coburn).
The top scarer at Monsters, Inc. is James P. Sullivan, aka "Sulley" (voiced by John Goodman), a blue-furred bear/gorillalike giant who is partnered with the green, one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal). The two of them are best friends. Sulley is a gentle creature, while Mike is obsessive and dreams of getting a raise and marrying his fiancee, the medusa-like Celia Mae (Jennifer Tilly.) Sulley's main rival as a scarer is the chameleon-like Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi) who possesses the ability to change the color of his skin to match his surroundings.
Promotional poster
As the two train and head off to work, it is learned the city is suffering a scream shortage. At the facillity, it is learned the monsters can somehow connect to any child's door, thus being able to sneak in to locations around the world.
In order to help Mike out with his girlfriend, Sulley takes on one of his chores. He finds a lone door on the workfloor, a violation of policy. An investigation leads to a small girl coming throuigh. Sulley is frightened as it is believed all children are dangerous. After several misadventures, he attempts to take the girl to Mike, who is enjoying a romantic dinner with his girlfriend at a sushi restaurant. The girl escapes and the two grab her up and barely make it home.
The girl stays overnight and is soon named Boo. The two come to know she is not as dangerous as once thought, but they still plan to return her the next day. She is disguised as a monster and snuck inside. Mike wants to toss her in any old door, but Sulley wants hers.
A mistake gets Mike kidnapped by Randall, who had intended to take Boo. It is learned Randall has created a mechanism to extract screams straight from kidnapped kids. Sulley and Mike tell everything to Waternoose. The boss betrays them, banishing the two to the Himilayas.
The two stay with the Abominable Snowman until Sulley learns of a village down below. He sneaks back to his world that way.
The entire now-unemployed Monsters Inc. staff
Mike soon follows. They confront Randall and attempt to rescue Boo. In the end Mike and Sulley send Randall to a motor home in a Louisiana swamp, where he is beaten up by the family living inside (who mistake him for an alligator). Mike and Sulley destroy that door Randall went through, thus trapping him.
Mike and Sulley trick Waternoose into exposing himself to the CDA, whose true leader is Roz, the scare floor secretary. Boo is sent home and her door is put through a grinder.
Sulley comes to realize that laughter is more powerful than screams and the company is redefined. Mike now enters the doors and entertains the kids. In secret, Mike also reassembles Boo's door. Sulley takes one more peek inside and Boo is heard but not seen.
| Spoiler Warning: All spoilers have been stated and have ended here. |
Voice cast
| Character | Image | English voice actor | French voice actor | German voice actor | Spanish voice actor | Italian voice actor | Japanese voice actor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James P. "Sulley" Sullivan | File:Cap041-1.jpg | John Goodman | Jacques Frantz | Reinhard Brock | Santiago Segura Silva (Spain) Vรญctor Trujillo (Mexico) |
Adalberto Maria Merli | Hidehiko Ishidzuka |
| Mike Wazowski | File:Cap031.jpg | Billy Crystal | รric Mรฉtayer | Ilja Richter | Josรฉ Sรกnchez Mota (Spain) Andrรฉs Bustamante (Mexico) |
Tonino Accolla | Yuji Tanaka |
| "Boo" | File:Cap039-1.jpg | Mary Gibbs | Lola Krellenstein | Maya McMahon Kim McMahon |
N/A | Ludovica Grisafi | Airi Inoue |
| Randall Boggs | File:Cap034-1.jpg | Steve Buscemi | Dominique Collignon-Maurin | Martin Semmelrogge | N/A | Daniele Formica | N/A |
| Henry J. Waternoose III | File:Cap030-1.jpg | James Coburn | Richard Darbois | Helmut Krauss | N/A | Vittorio Di Prima | Tลru ลhira |
| Celia Mae | File:Cap037-1.jpg | Jennifer Tilly | Claire Keim | Sissi Perlinger | N/A | Marina Massironi | Urara Takano |
| Roz | File:Cap035.jpg | Bob Peterson | N/A | N/A | N/A | Loretta Goggi | Masako Isobe |
| The Abominable Snowman | File:Cap040.jpg | John Ratzenberger | N/A | N/A | N/A | Renato Cecchetto | N/A |
| Jeff Fungus | File:Cap045-1.jpg | Frank Oz | N/A | N/A | N/A | Danilo De Girolamo | N/A |
| Needleman and Smitty | File:Cap032.jpg | Dan Gerson | N/A | N/A | N/A | Nanni Baldini | N/A |
| Jerry | File:Cap036-1.jpg | Steve Susskind | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Mrs. Flint | File:Cap027-1.jpg | Bonnie Hunt | N/A | N/A | N/A | Cristina Giachero | N/A |
Trivia
- Monsters, Inc. won the Academy Award for Best Song (Newman for If I Didn't Have You). It was nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing and Best Music, Original Score.
- All of the digital displays in Monstropolis (Sulley's clock radio, scare station consoles, "Days Without An Accident" sign) are nixie tubes, a neon digital display technology from the 1960s. The five- and six-digit numbers displayed with nixie tubes near the doors are all Pixar employees' or relatives' birthdays.
- At the end of the credits, you can spot the sentence "No monsters were harmed in the making of this motion picture"
- Some of the "sets" in this film were used in the animated feature Toy Story.
- When George is coming out of his first room, a "Paul Bunyan" poster is seen. It was previously used in Sid's room in Toy Story. Another reference to Toy Story is when Fungus is pulling different backgrounds down for Randall - one of them is the wallpaper from Andy's room.
- At the very beginning of the film, there is a shot of a shelf in the mechanical child's bedroom. On the far left is the toy aircraft that Buzz Lightyear rides on to prove to Woody that he can fly in a scene from Toy Story. This aircraft appears in several of Pixar's other films as well.
- Mary Gibbs, the three-year-old daughter of writer Rob Gibbs, provided Boo's voice. They were unable to get her to sit still in the recording studio, so instead they followed her around with a boom-mic, and things she said while playing were cut into the movie.
- The restaurant Mike visits is named after stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen and its logo and name are a play on the Fish and Chip franchise Harry Ramsdens.
- In Harryhausen's, the wallpaper behind the octopus chef is a Finding Nemo wallpaper, making a debut appearance before the film is released.
- The scene where Sulley fears Boo has been thrown in a garbage compressor is inspired by the 1952 Chuck Jones cartoon Feed the Kitty.
- The garbage compressor (trash compactor) is labeled "XP-13". This is probably a reference to the low budget "chop-job" 1970 sci-fi horror film Horror of the Blood Monsters, which carried the tag line: "You'll REALLY!! scream yourself into a state of shock!". In Horror of the Blood Monsters the space ship is named the "XP-13".
- Props seen earlier in the film make up the "scream extractor".
- The Abominable Snowman is based on the character "The Bumble" from the stop-motion Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas Special.
- When Mike enters the room of a child near the movie's ending, you can see early posters of Disneyland attractions and lands.
- When Randall is jettisoned from Monstropolis, you can briefly see Nemo from Finding Nemo mounted on the wall as a fishing trophy.
- Randall is banished to the same motor home used in A Bug's Life, and (again) includes the Pizza Planet truck.
- Near the film's ending, Boo excitedly shows Sulley her toys in her room, including Jessie from Toy Story 2, Nemo from Finding Nemo and the ball from Luxo Jr..
- In the scene where Boo is sitting on Sulley's bed refusing to sleep, she shows Sulley a picture of Randall. Very briefly, as she moves one of her other pictures to show Sulley the one of Randall, you can see that on one picture she has signed, "Mary," implying that Boo's real name is Mary. The reason that the picture is signed "Mary" is because it was in fact a picture that Mary Gibbs, the voice of Boo, had drawn and was put into the film.
- Mike makes a cameo appearance during the Finding Nemo closing credits, swimming across the screen, in his 'diver' costume, when Boo appears in Sulley's house for the first time.
- Vehicular versions of Mike, Sulley and the Abominable Snowman make cameo appearances during the Cars closing credits, in a drive-in movie. Mike is an Isetta, Sulley is a monster truck and Abominable is a snowplow. Boo is not shown, but is mentioned to be the "Boomobile".
- Some speculate that this movie was inspired from the 1994 Nickelodeon animated TV series AAAHH!!! Real Monsters.
- The names on the scream-totals board (with the exceptions of those of Sulley, Randall, and Ricky Plesuski) are all Pixar employees' names.
- When Sulley asked about what kids live in the village when Sulley and Mike are banished, the Abominable Snowman says "Tough kids, sissy kids, kids who climb on rocks", which is a line from the 1980s commercial for Armour Hotdogs.
- This is the 1st CG-movie with a monster theme in the title that Steve Buscemi starred in, his 2nd appearance was Monster House.
- Cars can be seen in Boo's room in two frames.
- There are a couple of easter eggs in the DVD of Monsters Inc. All of them are found in the Bonus Content DVD. One of them is found in the "Monsters Only" door. As soon as the door opens, you will see the character Celia talking on the phone. Press left on your remote and it will reveal a hidden easter egg in the eye of the Monsters Inc. Logo. It contains video clips that the actors just made without reason. Two easter eggs are found in the "Humans Only" room. Select the door labeled "Pixar" and press down on the remote, you will be treated to the second annual paper airplane flight contest held at Pixar Animation Studios. Another easter egg is in the production tour (Just keep pressing left at the menu with all the doors) and wait until it finishes (Or you can fast forward)and then the screen shows a number of doors that have hidden content in them, like a soundtrack for the short concept movie that you can find in the bonus features.
Mistakes/Blips
- Towards the end of the film, when Mike and Sulley meet the CDA "number 00001", several different CDA monsters have the same number, 00112 - the same texture had been used on several models to reduce modeling time.
- In the very first scene, in the kid's room simulator, one angle shows a floor mat with a ball and a toy train set on it. However, when the first monster falls down on the mat, the train is no longer there and in its place are the jacks he falls on. The soccer ball appears to move, too.
- In the international version of the video/DVD several instances of written English text have been replaced with universal symbols (see Alternate Versions). However on several occasions they switch back to the original appearance. For instance: The "Standby/Scare" sign in the factory, the "Contamination alert" on the video wall during the first 2319 and the joke on the video wall in the final scene.
- Sulley makes Boo giggle a few times when they play hide and seek in the restroom, but the power never spikes and no lights blow out. (According to the commentary on the DVD, the creators realized this but chose not to address it.)
- When Sulley is playing hide and seek with Boo in the men's bathroom, Sulley walks into the stall where he thinks that she is. When Sulley turns around to see her outside of the stall, we see Boo and Boo's reflection in the mirror, but not Sulley's reflection. All that the camera sees is an empty stall and toilet... minus Sulley.
- In the opening scene when the monster comes through the door, he closes the door most of the way, but when the instructor does a review of what the student did wrong, the door is left mostly open.
- The scoreboard on the video wall sometimes shows decreased values for some monsters, for instance when Waternoose talks to Jerry and just before the first 2319.
- When in the ice cave, Mike picks up the last snow cone. As he first picks it up the snow is yellow, then it goes white and then back to yellow.
- When Mike walks away after congratulating Celia (in the beginning of the film) he passes a marking in the floor. In the next shot, viewed from above, he is much nearer her than in the shot before, which can be seen by the floor markings.
- When Mike is talking to Roz about his paper work, Mike's lip crosses through the counter at one point.
- When we see Mike wake up Sulley in the beginning, we see Sulley's alarm clock on his right-hand night stand, but later when Boo jumps into Sulley's bed the alarm clock is not there.
- When Sulley goes to put Boo back in her room, the clock above the door of the scare floor clearly indicates 5:50; when he runs out of the room it indicates 6:50.
Spin-offs
- Feld Entertainment currently tours a Monsters, Inc. edition of their Disney on Ice skating tour.
- A series of video games and a multi-platform video game were created, based on the movie.
- A short was made by Pixar in 2001 named Mike's New Car.
- In Cars, there is a part at the end when Mack is watching a few movies. One is called "Monster Trucks Inc."
- A teaser trailer shows when Sulley and Mike stumble into the wrong bedroom. (Also, in a preview shown before the first Harry Potter film, Sulley is shown playing charades with Mike, but Mike is unable to guess the phrase 'Harry Potter'. The clip never specifically mentions Harry Potter & Star Wars, but the end states that Monsters, Inc. is playing right next door.)
Attached short films
For the Birds
Main article: For the Birds
The theatrical and Video/DVD release of the film included For the Birds, a Pixar short made in 2000, a year before this film was released.
Mike's New Car
Main article: Mike's New Car
The Video/DVD release also included an additional short called Mike's New Car, starring the characters from the film.
See also
- List of animated feature-length films
- List of computer-animated films
References
External links
- Information at Pixar's site
- Monsters, Inc. at the Internet Movie Database
- Monsters, Inc. at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Monsters, Inc. at Rotten Tomatoes
Monsters, Inc. at Metacritic
Monsters, Inc. at Box Office Mojo
|list2 =
The Adventures of Andrรฉ and Wally B. (1984) ยท Luxo Jr. (1986) ยท Red's Dream (1987 ยท Tin Toy (1988) ยท Knick Knack (1989) ยท Geri's Game (1997) ยท For the Birds (2001) ยท Mike's New Car (2002) ยท Boundin' (2003) ยท Jack-Jack Attack (2005) ยท Mr. Incredible and Pals (2005) ยท One Man Band (2005) ยท Mater and the Ghostlight (2006) ยท Lifted (2006) ยท Your Friend the Rat (2007) ยท Presto (2008) ยท BURN-E (2008) ยท Partly Cloudy (2009) ยท Dug's Special Mission (2009) ยท George and A.J. (2009) ยท Day & Night (2011) ยท La Luna (2011) ยท Hawaiian Vacation (2011) ยท Small Fry (2011) ยท Partysaurus Rex (2012) ยท The Legend of Mor'du (2012) ยท The Blue Umbrella (2013) ยท Party Central (2013) ยท Lava (2014) ยท Sanjay's Super Team (2015) ยท Riley's First Date? (2015) ยท Piper (2016) ยท Lou (2017) ยท Bao (2018)
| cat = }}
| Preceded by Toy Story 2 |
PIXAR Films 2001 |
Succeeded by Finding Nemo |