Blu-ray review: 'Monsters, Inc.'

Pixar created a funny and heartfelt family film in the form of “Monsters, Inc.,” the studio’s fourth animated film. This film proved that that this movie is more than just a kid’s movie as everybody from ages 4 to 65 will laugh with delight at the adventures and antics of big, blue-haired monster James P. Sullivan aka Sully (voiced by John Goodman) and his best friend, the pea-shaped and one-eyed Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal).

The movie is set in a parallel world to humans called Monstropolis, where their source of energy comes from the screams children make when a monster scares them. Sully also happens to be the top scarer at Monsters, Inc., a corporation that features a variety of monsters as employees that mainly scare children for a living via transportation through the children’s closet door. Another thing is that at an early age, monsters are taught that humans are dangerous and toxic.

One night, Sully accidently allows a little girl (voiced by Mary Gibbs) to wander through her closet portal. After realizing she is not a threat and giving her the name “Boo,” it is up to Sully and Mike to find a way to return her back to the human world without raising the attention of their chameleon-like rival Randall Boggs (voiced by Steve Buscemi) or their boss Henry J. Waternoose (voiced by James Coburn).

Though “A Bug’s Life” had an interesting premise, “Monsters, Inc.” is the Pixar’s first innovative and brilliant movie since “Toy Story” as it introduced the notion of a world of monsters where their economy relies on the scream of children. Not only, it also introduces the idea that while humans are scared of monsters, the same monsters are just as scared as the humans they are scaring. Goodman and Crystal are terrific together and even though this is an animated film, their roles as Sully and Mike have to be one of their performances in their career as they made their on-screen alter ego more than just cartoon characters, but real and genuine characters that we care about throughout the film.

The first release of this film “Monsters, Inc.” has a perfect video presentation as the video quality for the movie looks just as fresh and clear today as it did during it theatrical run twelve years ago. Pixar always delivers when it comes releasing their films on Blu-ray as the colors look vibrant and the texture is incredible as is the level of detail to each object in the film with the individual blue hairs of Sully’s fur looking absolutely sharp on Blu-ray.

This Blu-ray is packed with special features as most of the extras here are ported over from the original DVD edition. However, there are a couple new additions that can be found. This Blu-ray edition includes the sneak peek of “Monsters University” to prepare fans of this film for their next encounter with these characters as the movie is due in theaters on June 21. There are three shorts – “Toy Story Toons: Partysaurus Rex,” “For the Birds” and “Mike’s New Car” with the former being the best of the bunch as it revisits the world of Toy Story as Rex begins a water rave party in a bathtub to prove he is not a “party pooper.” There is also a filmmaker’s roundtable that puts Pixar alumni Peter Docter, Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson and Bob Peterson together as they joke with each other and tell stories about the making of the film. Like I said before, the rest of the extras are old featurettes that were shot for the original DVD edition that are broken into five minutes or less little segments.

“Monsters, Inc.” is a must-own for any Disney, Pixar and/or animation fan. If you don’t have a high-definition copy of “Monsters, Inc.” and you are a fan of the movie, now is the time to splurge some cast on this re-release of one of Pixar’s most beloved and timeless films in their canon. The video presentation is perfect and the special features should hold over fans of this movie until they can see these characters again in the summer.