Loved it!

Rating: Null/10 (17 November 2003)

**SPOILERS**
Monsters, Inc. is truly a film geared towards the whole family, not just children. Monsters Mike Wizowski (Billy Crystal) and James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) are blue-collar workers of the monster world, collecting the screams of little children to power the city of Monstropolis. Sullivan or `Sully' is the top scarer of Monsters, Inc., with Wizowski by his side as assistant. The two monsters are complete opposites. Sully's large size and intimidating roar makes for a very scary monster, while Wizowski is comparatively small and un-intimidating, though with a fiery personality. Their lives are taken for a sudden turn when a little girl named Boo (Jennifer Tilly) is accidentally let into the factory. Sully and Wizowski's old goal of being named top performer in the factory changes, and they gear their focus towards the return of little Boo.
I felt that the central idea of this film is that there are `two sides to every story.' For most children, a monster in their closet is a terrifying concept. They believe that the `monster' is out to do them harm in their sleep. In the film, we see this concept from the viewpoint of the monsters doing the scaring. They are simply trying to make a living by sneaking through the many closets of the world to collect the needed screams for their city's power supply. In fact, the monsters are just as scared of the children they are scaring.
There are many things to enjoy about this movie. The computer animation used in the film really makes the characters come to life. I was very impressed with how realistic the thick coat of fur on Sully was. It was as if each hair were animated individually. Towards the end of the movie, when Wizowski and Sully were hurled around by the roller coaster of doors I was almost dizzy from the way the scene was animated. When I saw it in the theater, I almost felt like I was going up and down and around with them.

I liked how there were a lot of high `camera' angles looking down on them. It really emphasized how vulnerable and out of control they were, as all they could do was hang on until their door stopped. Another scene where I thought the angle use was interesting was back at Sully's place, on Boo's first night in the monster world. A low angle was used as Boo walked towards Sully talking in her baby-babble. Instead of this angle making Sully seem intimidating and `in charge,' we see a monster terrified of a girl a fraction of his size, covering his head with a spaghetti strainer and utilizing a trash can lid as a shield to protect himself form Boo's `toxicity.'
I thought that this film's theme was similar to that portrayed in Toy Story and its sequel. Both films show a viewpoint that is opposite of humans. Toy Story suggests what life is like from the viewpoint of a child's toy, while Monsters, Inc. shows life as the monster lurking in a child's closet.