Monsters Inc.
Director: Pete Doctor
Cast: John Goodman, Mary Gibbs, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, Bob Peterson
In a secret world, hidden behind our closet doors, monsters reign supreme; emerging from the child’s closet every night to scare the human children. A team of monster scarers, lovable monster, Sulley (John Goodman), and his wisecracking best friend, Mike (Billy Crystal), are the best team at Monster’s Inc. and hold the top position, working together to ensure that the screams of human children will continue to power their secret city. Things go crazy when an adorable 2-year-old baby girl dubbed "Boo," (Mary Gibbs) accidentally wanders into the monster world one night when Randall attempts to kidnap the child to boost his own scare record. Now, it's up to Sulley and Mike to send Boo back through her door and get her safely home, before anybody finds out…especially Sulley's rival scarer, Randall - a chameleon-like monster, who Boo is very afraid of.
Fear is a major theme in “Monsters Inc” and nowhere is fear (and the overcoming of said fear) more perfectly illustrated, than in the characters of Boo, Mike, and Sully.
The irony is that while the monsters need the screams of children to power their secret city and they are fighting an uphill battle because children are getting more and more difficult to scare, monsters, themselves, are deathly afraid of the children that they must scare to collect that precious scream energy. The monsters’ fear stems from their misguided belief that children are toxic and any interaction with children or anything that comes from the children’s bedroom would ultimately lead to the monsters’ demise.
Sulley’s fear of children is challenged when he discovers that a little girl (who he later names Boo) has accidentally followed him into the monster’s world. At first, Sulley’s ingrained fear of children compels him to flee from the little girl, and he tries, in vain, to return her to the human world. Despite his best efforts though, Sulley soon realizes that his fear of Boo is unjustified, and his feelings for her are soon transformed into something altogether different: affection. As the bond between Sulley and Boo grows stronger, Sulley finds himself putting everything on the line to protect her from a malevolent villain who plans to use the child to fulfill his own selfish ambitions. In the end, Sulley’s love for Boo is expressed when he realizes that she doesn’t belong in his world and he chooses to send her home, even though doing so meant that he would never see her again.
When she enters the monster world, Boo, being unable to express her emotions verbally, instead, colors pictures to express to Sulley how she is feeling. When Sulley is putting Boo to bed in the monster world, Boo whimpers when she sees the closet and when Sulley asks her what’s wrong, Boo shows Sulley a picture that she drew of Randall. Randall is Boo’s monster, and a monster who has obviously scared Boo in the past, because Boo shows Sulley a picture of Randall to articulate why she’s scared. Since we have not seen Randall scare Boo, we can surmise from Boo drawing this likeness of Randall that Randall could have scared Boo in the past, since she remembered what he looked like.
As we see with Randall and Mr. Waternoose, fear is not only used to power the monster world…fear can also be used as a weapon. Knowing that Boo is a child who is easily frightened by snakes, his purpose for being in Boo’s bedroom that night, when Sulley finds the door, was to kidnap Boo and maybe other children that he knew could be easily scared, (since they established that it was getting ever more difficult for the monsters to extract the scream energy, because children weren’t getting scared anymore) and he could use his machine to heroically provide the scream energy that was so desperately needed and win favor with the company during a scream shortage, (and in the process, boosting the amount of points he receives from getting scream energy, and thus, surpassing Sulley and breaking the all-time scare record.)
We see Boo expressing how she feels about Sulley through pictures, as well. When Sulley is distracting Boo at his and Mike’s apartment, while Mike concocts a plan for what to do about this human child who has wandered into their midst, and sent the whole of Monstropolis into a panicked frenzy, Boo shows Sulley a picture she drew of the pair of them…Sulley and Boo…and we can divine from this picture that Boo is clearly not afraid of this monster (who she nicknames “Kitty”). They are both smiling in the picture and Boo is holding Sulley’s hand…clearly illustrating that she wants to be friends with Sulley. When Boo and Sulley are playing hide and seek, Boo sees Randall and she immediately runs to Sulley and jumps into his arms, trusting her “Kitty” to protect her from her scary monster. When Randall figures out that Mike has the human child, and that Boo is there, in the factory, he strikes a deal with Mike, telling him that he will have Boo’s door at his station at precisely 12:00 noon, when all the other scarers are at lunch, and Mike has until 12:30 to put Boo back in her bedroom or the door would be gone. When Sulley and Boo hear that Randall is involved in getting Boo’s door to send her home, Boo is immediately frightened again, and Sulley holds her protectively, comforting Boo, and refusing to take Boo through the door because Randall is after Boo and Sulley senses a trap.
Boo’s bond with Sulley is shaken when Sulley is forced to do a scare demonstration for the new scare cadets. Boo witnesses this moment, and she is deeply frightened by the experience because she thinks “Kitty” – who has, until this moment, been her protector and friend – is roaring at her, when, in truth, he was roaring at the mannequin of the child he was meant to scare. When Sulley sees the pictures on the monitor of Boo’s frightened expression looking up at his snarling face, he is utterly devastated when Boo runs away from him in fear. When Randall and Mr. Waternoose are strapping Boo into the scream extractor, she is frightened and calls for her “Kitty” to protect her. Sulley saves Boo just in time and, after destroying the machine, he takes Boo’s door card, determined to send her home, safe and sound.
When Randall is attacking Sulley during the chase through the doors, Boo is initially scared of Randall…that is, until she hears Randall threatening to put an end to Sulley’s life and take Boo for himself. Hearing this allows Boo to overcome her fear of her monster from the closet and rather than cowering in fear this time, Boo bravely goes to battle for Sulley, and they banish Randall from the monster world forever. When Sulley returns Boo to her bedroom, he bids her a heartfelt goodbye and gives her a hug. Although her door is shredded, Mike gives Sulley a piece of the door to have as a keepsake to remember Boo…and Sulley also keeps Boo’s picture of the two of them. Later, Mike surprises Sulley by showing Sulley Boo’s door that had been painstakingly restored by Mike…all but the last piece, which Sulley had. Looking at the picture again, Sulley returns the broken shard of wood into the door, making it whole again, and allowing him to be reunited with Boo.
“Monster’s Inc.”, the fourth installment in the Pixar animated film canon, is a vibrant and emotionally heartfelt film. The animation is stunning. The story carries a heartwarming and universal message that both children and adults can appreciate. The emotional tone of the movie, and especially the relationship between Sulley and Boo, allows the audience to truly connect with the characters. While it is not the strongest film that Pixar has created, it is still a fun flick that both children and adults will enjoy.
© 2024 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.
Director: Pete Doctor
Cast: John Goodman, Mary Gibbs, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, Bob Peterson
In a secret world, hidden behind our closet doors, monsters reign supreme; emerging from the child’s closet every night to scare the human children. A team of monster scarers, lovable monster, Sulley (John Goodman), and his wisecracking best friend, Mike (Billy Crystal), are the best team at Monster’s Inc. and hold the top position, working together to ensure that the screams of human children will continue to power their secret city. Things go crazy when an adorable 2-year-old baby girl dubbed "Boo," (Mary Gibbs) accidentally wanders into the monster world one night when Randall attempts to kidnap the child to boost his own scare record. Now, it's up to Sulley and Mike to send Boo back through her door and get her safely home, before anybody finds out…especially Sulley's rival scarer, Randall - a chameleon-like monster, who Boo is very afraid of.
Fear is a major theme in “Monsters Inc” and nowhere is fear (and the overcoming of said fear) more perfectly illustrated, than in the characters of Boo, Mike, and Sully.
The irony is that while the monsters need the screams of children to power their secret city and they are fighting an uphill battle because children are getting more and more difficult to scare, monsters, themselves, are deathly afraid of the children that they must scare to collect that precious scream energy. The monsters’ fear stems from their misguided belief that children are toxic and any interaction with children or anything that comes from the children’s bedroom would ultimately lead to the monsters’ demise.
Sulley’s fear of children is challenged when he discovers that a little girl (who he later names Boo) has accidentally followed him into the monster’s world. At first, Sulley’s ingrained fear of children compels him to flee from the little girl, and he tries, in vain, to return her to the human world. Despite his best efforts though, Sulley soon realizes that his fear of Boo is unjustified, and his feelings for her are soon transformed into something altogether different: affection. As the bond between Sulley and Boo grows stronger, Sulley finds himself putting everything on the line to protect her from a malevolent villain who plans to use the child to fulfill his own selfish ambitions. In the end, Sulley’s love for Boo is expressed when he realizes that she doesn’t belong in his world and he chooses to send her home, even though doing so meant that he would never see her again.
When she enters the monster world, Boo, being unable to express her emotions verbally, instead, colors pictures to express to Sulley how she is feeling. When Sulley is putting Boo to bed in the monster world, Boo whimpers when she sees the closet and when Sulley asks her what’s wrong, Boo shows Sulley a picture that she drew of Randall. Randall is Boo’s monster, and a monster who has obviously scared Boo in the past, because Boo shows Sulley a picture of Randall to articulate why she’s scared. Since we have not seen Randall scare Boo, we can surmise from Boo drawing this likeness of Randall that Randall could have scared Boo in the past, since she remembered what he looked like.
As we see with Randall and Mr. Waternoose, fear is not only used to power the monster world…fear can also be used as a weapon. Knowing that Boo is a child who is easily frightened by snakes, his purpose for being in Boo’s bedroom that night, when Sulley finds the door, was to kidnap Boo and maybe other children that he knew could be easily scared, (since they established that it was getting ever more difficult for the monsters to extract the scream energy, because children weren’t getting scared anymore) and he could use his machine to heroically provide the scream energy that was so desperately needed and win favor with the company during a scream shortage, (and in the process, boosting the amount of points he receives from getting scream energy, and thus, surpassing Sulley and breaking the all-time scare record.)
We see Boo expressing how she feels about Sulley through pictures, as well. When Sulley is distracting Boo at his and Mike’s apartment, while Mike concocts a plan for what to do about this human child who has wandered into their midst, and sent the whole of Monstropolis into a panicked frenzy, Boo shows Sulley a picture she drew of the pair of them…Sulley and Boo…and we can divine from this picture that Boo is clearly not afraid of this monster (who she nicknames “Kitty”). They are both smiling in the picture and Boo is holding Sulley’s hand…clearly illustrating that she wants to be friends with Sulley. When Boo and Sulley are playing hide and seek, Boo sees Randall and she immediately runs to Sulley and jumps into his arms, trusting her “Kitty” to protect her from her scary monster. When Randall figures out that Mike has the human child, and that Boo is there, in the factory, he strikes a deal with Mike, telling him that he will have Boo’s door at his station at precisely 12:00 noon, when all the other scarers are at lunch, and Mike has until 12:30 to put Boo back in her bedroom or the door would be gone. When Sulley and Boo hear that Randall is involved in getting Boo’s door to send her home, Boo is immediately frightened again, and Sulley holds her protectively, comforting Boo, and refusing to take Boo through the door because Randall is after Boo and Sulley senses a trap.
Boo’s bond with Sulley is shaken when Sulley is forced to do a scare demonstration for the new scare cadets. Boo witnesses this moment, and she is deeply frightened by the experience because she thinks “Kitty” – who has, until this moment, been her protector and friend – is roaring at her, when, in truth, he was roaring at the mannequin of the child he was meant to scare. When Sulley sees the pictures on the monitor of Boo’s frightened expression looking up at his snarling face, he is utterly devastated when Boo runs away from him in fear. When Randall and Mr. Waternoose are strapping Boo into the scream extractor, she is frightened and calls for her “Kitty” to protect her. Sulley saves Boo just in time and, after destroying the machine, he takes Boo’s door card, determined to send her home, safe and sound.
When Randall is attacking Sulley during the chase through the doors, Boo is initially scared of Randall…that is, until she hears Randall threatening to put an end to Sulley’s life and take Boo for himself. Hearing this allows Boo to overcome her fear of her monster from the closet and rather than cowering in fear this time, Boo bravely goes to battle for Sulley, and they banish Randall from the monster world forever. When Sulley returns Boo to her bedroom, he bids her a heartfelt goodbye and gives her a hug. Although her door is shredded, Mike gives Sulley a piece of the door to have as a keepsake to remember Boo…and Sulley also keeps Boo’s picture of the two of them. Later, Mike surprises Sulley by showing Sulley Boo’s door that had been painstakingly restored by Mike…all but the last piece, which Sulley had. Looking at the picture again, Sulley returns the broken shard of wood into the door, making it whole again, and allowing him to be reunited with Boo.
“Monster’s Inc.”, the fourth installment in the Pixar animated film canon, is a vibrant and emotionally heartfelt film. The animation is stunning. The story carries a heartwarming and universal message that both children and adults can appreciate. The emotional tone of the movie, and especially the relationship between Sulley and Boo, allows the audience to truly connect with the characters. While it is not the strongest film that Pixar has created, it is still a fun flick that both children and adults will enjoy.
© 2024 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.