Monsters Inc (Monsters Inc. (DVD))

Member Name: Andy_The_Writer

Product:	Monsters Inc. (DVD)
Date:	02/03/03 (486 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Visuals and Sound, Great Characters, Full of Little Twists

Disadvantages: The Film Finishes

Please excuse the fact that this opinion is for the DVD version of Monsters Inc and there is no catergory for the DVD version of Monsters Inc, I have suggested it to dooyoo so they should hopefully add it soon.

After watching Monsters Inc at the cinema, I knew that film would go down as one of my all time favourites. Some of you may think that this film is only for the children, well if you haven't watched it you're missing out, big time. I got this film at Christmas on DVD (courtesy of my lovely girlfriend Vicky), and it is fantastic. With DVD extras coming out of the ears, and the classy film to boot, this DVD is great beyond all imagination. If you have not already seen this film I hope that this opinion will convince you to do so.

~~~ The Plot ~~~

Being a Disney film you would not expect a bad plot, as most of the Disney films have had good plots, and Monsters Inc certainly doesn't disappoint. Monstropolis is the biggest city in the monster world, and Monsters Inc, the biggest company in the whole of Monstropolis. Monsters Inc is like the Powergen of our world, it supplies power to everything in Monstropolis.

However unlike Powergen they generate the power very differently. Monsters Inc have got the bedroom door to every single kid in the world, all whirling round in an enormous machine, ready to be beckoned by someone down on the scare floor. The scare floor is where all the monsters who work at Monsters Inc enter the human world, and scare the kids whilst they are sleeping. By collecting their screams into scream containers, it can be used to generate power and supply the monster world.

Top scarer, Sully and his assistant Mike, are top of the leader board for the highest quantity of human scream collected. A rather nasty monster called Randal is not far behind, and has been trying to boost his numbers, by working after the factory had closed. Randal leaves a door down on the scare floor befor
e going home, and it is discovered by Sully. This is where the fun starts, Sully accidentally allows a little girl to pass from her room into the monster world.

Cue crazy misadventures as Mike and Sully try to get the little girl "boo," back into her own world and back into her own little bedroom. However, they must be cautious as all monsters believe that a kid's touch is toxic. The events which follow will make you laugh till your sides hurt and your cheeks feel stretched; and be sure to go toilet before watching this film, we don't want any accidents now do we. Also on a more serious note, if you are an emotional kind of person when watching films, then be warned this film could make you cry!

~~~ The Main Characters ~~~

James P Sullivan AKA Sully - The greatest scarer ever to grace the scare floors of Monsters Inc. Sully is the main character in the film, and is the one who names the little girl, Boo. His lifelong friend Mike, is Sully's assistant on the scare floor, and their friendship throughout out the film remains, with Mike doing something very touching for Sully later on in the film, (won't tell you, because it would ruin the experience).

Sully's character is of a very caring nature, and everyone around Monsters Inc loves him, due to the fact he has been employee of the month nearly every single month he has been there. He is classed as somewhat royalty by everyone in the factory, and is a very likeable character for the audience.

Throughout the film Sully has his funny moments but usually comes across as the more serious of the two main characters, and leaves the comedy to his little one eyed buddy Mike. Sully develops a close relationship with the little girl Boo, during the film, and one that is very believable even though the film is a 3D cartoon style film (same as the classic Toy Story), and the monsters are obviously not real (sorry to any firm believers in their

existence).

In conclusion the voice over is fantastically carried out, his character is likeable and caring, and leaves the funny stuff to others.

Mike - The comedy man of the film, and Sully's one eyed little green mate. This guy supplies the laughs throughout the film, from spraying his eye with a nasty disinfectant, to banging his balls on an iron bar. This guy will have you laughing to your sides hurt.

Starts off being afraid of Boo as he shares the same opinion as all the other monsters in Monstropolis; that all kids are toxic and out to terminate all monsters. But after a while he starts to like Boo, never as much as his friend, Sully.

Throughout the film we get to see Mike acting the fool and making jokes, but also displays a more serious and emotional side to his character, when his is with his girlfriend. Their relationship is obviously blossoming and his girlfriends is quite a looker (if the whole snakes on the head does it for you).

Again Mikes voice over is carried out perfectly and it adds to his character. The voice provided for the character Mike really fits in with how he comes across to the viewer. In a nutshell the films funny guy.

The Little Girl AKA Boo - Easily the one of the most loveable Disney characters of all time, from the moment you hear her childish mumblings you'll be in love with this adorable little character. From the minute she escapes from her world into that of the monsters you just know she will cause all sorts of mischief in her new surroundings.

All the monsters are scared of kids so the scene at the sushi bar ensure a lot of laughs when little Boo shows the monsters just how cute she is, and how she got the name Boo in the first place. By the end of the film you will find yourself feeling like you know Boo and you can empathise with how she and the other characters are clearly feeling, (if I told you how they are feeling the film would agai
n be ruined).

To sum up, you will simply love Boo and she does us humans proud out in the monster world.

~~~ What do I like about this film ~~~

You may think that this film is for kids only, as I have already mentioned. One of the things I love about this film (and also loved about the Toy Story series), is that they have managed to hide some adult humour behind some very child friendly scenes. The kids will love the film because it's just down their street and pitched to make them laugh and the older population will also snigger as the adult humour secretly transmits to your sex crazed minds.

The graphics are simply superb, and if you have got a good TV as well then you will be amazed by the superb clarity that this Disney DVD has to offer. If only I had a 62 inch plasma screen to view it on.

The story line although seems basic from what I have explained above in the plot, the film is full of little twists and un intended mishaps, which make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. After a while you are never quite sure what exactly is going to happen to our two helpless characters. Without these twists the story would be a little bland and perhaps a little to basic, but luckily for Disney they had not failed to realise this and pulled out the stops, ensuring the story to be anything but bland and basic.

There are other characters within the film, that do not play any major leading roles but that are funny none of the less. The film has all the characters it could need. The good guys (Sully and Mike), the bad guys (Randal and his assistant, amongst others, but don't want to ruin some of the twists), some undercover, and in disguise characters (I'll leave you guessing at that one) and of cause the loveable kind of character (taking the form of Boo). All these different types of characters mingle together perfectly, making the film never get boring, as they say variety is the spice of life. r>

~~~ Quality of Presentation/Sound ~~~

Being a DVD you would expect the best in both visual and audio quality. As with nearly every other DVD this film certainly doesn't fail. But with Monsters Inc you get even more for your money.

Those of you who have seen Toy Story will have seen this style of graphics before. The film is made in luscious 3D graphics, which surpasses that of Toy Story. With a half decent television, this will be one of the most spectacular pictures your likely to see from a DVD.

Also with the sound, the DVD does not disappoint. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, which if connected to surround sounds speakers would give you the best sounds possible. Even played through your televisions speakers, or perhaps your stereos, this film sounds as good as it looks, which you will have to trust me, is amazing.

There are no glitches in any scenes, which is feat in itself when a film is made entirely from 3D technology and a massive amount of pixels. No shuddering, jumping about or anything of the sort, a film that has been perfectly edited and produced to an extremely high standard.

There is so much quality in the garphics on this film that you can even see the hairs on sully moving as he walks about. Even these finer details have amazing clarity and finish.

~~~ DVD Extras ~~~

One of the reasons for me wanting to do this opinion was tell let everyone know how good the extras for this film really are. This film has so many monster packed extras that you won't know where to start.

The disk menu is very easy to use, bright and colourful obviously aimed with the younger generations in mind. But that's not the most important is the features, and here is a run down of what Monsters Inc DVD extra's have to offer.

Mikes New Car

A new short film made especially for the DVD release of Monsters Inc. This little film clip shows Mike bragging
about a new car to Sully, before excitedly asking Sully if would fancy a leisurely cruise around Monstropolis. As Mike sounds finds out, his car is perhaps a little to advanced for his liking, losing
control and topping of this g
reat little extra with a funny ending.

Finding Nemo Trailer

If like me you have become a fan of Disney's 3D efforts (Toy Story series and Monsters Inc), then this extra is definitely for you. Its shows you a five minute trailer of Disney next 3D cartoon, Finding Nemo. Without telling you too much what this film will be about, just trust me when I say that if you like Toy Story and Monsters Inc you are sure to love Finding Nemo.

Hilarious Outtakes and the Company Play

Yes I can see some of you wondering how you can have outtakes from a cartoon film; well the simple answer is I didn?t think you could either. However these scenes show that even when the film is a cartoon, things can still go wrong. The directors have had a lot of fun with some of the original scenes that made it to the final cut of the movie, and made it so it appears that the cartoon characters have either forgotten their lines, or bumped into something on the cartoon set. Some of them aren?t too funny but others will give you an extra tickle.

Also throughout the film you may have heard Mike and Sully mention the company play, here you can see what happened after the films story had finished. It shows how Mike and Sully actually got round to writing an entire play they mentioned in the film, and here you are getting what is supposed to be the closing scene of the play. Great stuff and another extra rib tickler thrown in at then end of this great film.

Disney Storyline

Shows how the brains behind the films created the story, and how they came up with such inspirational characters such as Mike and Sully. This is great if there are any budding directors amongst you. It will show you how their m
ind works, and who knows, may inspire one of you to write your own film.

Peek A Boo - Boo's Door Game

Yes that's right this DVD has got everything, including a game. In this game
you go through each door in turn, and it takes you to a kid's bedroom, once in the bedroom your aim is to find the piece of Boo's bedroom door. As you slowly find the pieces Boo's door slowly builds up like a jigsaw, and once complete you get a nice little film clip. A lovely idea, which is something that the kids will be bugging you to help them with, over and over again.

For The Birds (2001)

I have saved the best extra till last, and this will not fail to make you laugh. This small film won an academy award for being the best small film of 2001. It involves one big and rather stupid big bird, and lots of little bitchy birds, and an electricity line. I'll leave it at that, if anyone has seen this let me know how you liked it on a comment.

These extras are really good and better than the average deleted scenes and music videos you tend to get as DVD extras. The children will love the games, and the adults will find the rest just as entertaining.

~~~ General Information ~~~

Just for you information freaks out there really.

Made By: Disney/Pixar
Languages: Dolby Digital 5.1 in English or German, and Dolby Digital 2.0 English
Subtitles in: English, Italian, German, French, Spanish and English for the hearing impaired.

Colour: PAL

Running Time: 88 Minutes aprox

Full Frame Format: 1.33.1

Certificate: U

Price: £14.99+

~~~ Final Thanks ~~~

Once again thanks for anyone who has read this opinion sorry it's another long one, but I'm sure you can cope with them. Bye for now, Andy.

Or "Mr Writer" to Marandina :0)