Monsters Inc
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DVD Review
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Review
As a child, which was a long time ago, I loved going to see cartoons and animations, mainly I think because the filmmakers could make their imaginations and that of their audiences come true much more easily than with live action. Of course with todays amazing special effects capabilities that isn't so true. So, as I'm still a kid at heart and an avid fan, when someone like Disney or Pixar bring out an animated feature, I'm usually right up there at the front of the queue to see it. This one is no exception…
James P. Sullivan (Sulley) and Mike Wazowski work for Monsters, Inc., the leading energy company in the monster world. Energy they get by scaring human children and converting the screams into power for light, cars and everything lse that makes their world run smoothly. However, there's a power shortage, kids aren't so easy to scare these days, and things are looking grim for the future so the pressure is on everyone to keep those children screaming.
At Monsters, Inc. they have a copy of every childs bedroom closet door, which can be used as a gateway into the room at night to scare the kids. Sulley, an enormous blue monster with orange spots, is their top scarer and Mike, a little green eyeball on legs, is his Scare Assistant, best pal and room mate.
One day, after a pretty hectic shift and while Mike rushes off on a date, Sulley accidentally lets a human child, which as every monster knows is one of the most toxic and disease ridden things known and a source of pure terror to any sane monster, into their world.
The movie follows the hilarious antics of Sulley and Mike as they try to return the little girl to the human world while avoiding such obstacles as the CDA (Child Detection Agency), their own co-workers and the rest of the monster world.
Review
The team that brought us Toy Story have done it again with Monsters, Inc. This is one excellent animated feature with loads of humour for both kids and adults.
Casting is excellent with the voices of John Goodman as Sulley; Billy Crystal as Mike; Steve Buscemi as Randall Bogs, the main villain of the piece; Jennifer Tilly as Celia Mae, Mike's medusa girlfriend and the late James Coburn as Henry J. Waternoose III, CEO of Monsters, Inc.
The animation is superb and Pixar have improved the technology since previous productions. Things you'ld take for granted in a live motion film are fast becoming possible with todays technology such as lifelike fur and clothing that reacts realistically to motion and weather effects, including even the settling on of snowflakes in a blizzard.
Given that the movie is a comedy and mainly intended for children, the humour is excellent and pretty well balanced with lots of little bits that can be appreciated by adults as well. An absolutely excellent movie.
Audio/Video
This is a THX certified production so you pretty much be sure picture and sound are excellent. The Setup section comes with the THX Optimizer, which allows you to set up your sound and picture for the best effect.
The picture is presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic widescreen and is absolutely crystal clear with vibrant colours throughout. The sound options are Dolby Digital Surround or DTS 5.1 and is very good. They used something called binaural recording, of which there are some samples in the extras, to give you a feel of being right in there.
Extras
The Collector's Edition is a two-disc production so there are loads of extras…
Disc 1
- Audio Commentary by Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton - This is pretty good although,a s there are four them, it's quite difficult to tell who is saying what.
- Trailer for Finding Nemo, which is the partnership's next movie for release in 2003 and it looks pretty good.
- 5.1 Surround Sound Effects Mix, which allows you to listen to the movie minus voice and music, just the sound effects.
Disc 2
This is all extras, with a short introduction by some of the team giving a guide to the two main routes through the material.
Outtakes - As shown through the end credits, these were obviously specially produced and are a set of pretty high quality snips that add some extra comic moments.
Mike's New Car - An animated short film, featuring Mike and Sulley. last about three and a hald minutes and is pretty funny.
For The Birds - Another animated short, which was shown in the UK theatres alongf with the movie. It's pretty short at three minutes but it's hilarious and won Best Animated Short Film prize at the 2001 Academy Awards.
Human Door - Behind this door, you're in the door vault and there are more doors to look into…
- Tour - This is a 20 minute combination of some of the material in this area.
- Pixar - This contains the Pixar Fun Factory Tour - A three and a half minute piece introducing the team and a short tour of the Pixar studios and an Easter Egg.
- Story - Over 36 minutes of material on how the story was developed. Includes story boards, deleted scenes and a childs picture book concept of the original story line.
- Monster Files - About seven and a half minutes of stuff on the cast and what makes a great monster. Includes a gallery of character design artwork.
- Design - A guide to Monstropolis and the set designs used in the movie. Includes six galleries of images, a virtual fly through of five of the sets used, how they dressed the sets and a guide to some of the "in" jokes used on the sets.
- Animation - Over 20 minutes of detailed information on the techniques and technology used to animate the characters, clothing and weather effects
- Music and Sound - Goodman and Crytal recording the Monster Song, a piece on the sound design and information and examples of the binaural recording techniques used.
- Release - All the promotional material such as the US premiere, trailers and TV spots, outtakes (again), a poster gallery, how they changed the English signs and voices to accomodate international releases and a multi-language clip reel with samples of over 30 languages they used.
Monster Door - Behind this door, the material is more monster oriented…
- New Monster Adventures - A range of short animations and games such as Mike's New Car (again); Monster TV Treats; Ponkickies 21; Boo's Door Game; Welcome to Monstropolis, an animated interactive comic and a music video.
- Behind The Screams - Outtakes (again), a 23 page amusing programme to accompany the company play "Put That Thing back Where It Came From!" and a special, on the job report on the energy shortage with Mike and Sulley explaining how Monsters, Inc is helping make thing better.
- Orientation - You're a new employee of Monsters, Inc. and here's all the information you'll need to get through your first day such as the welcome speech, the short tour, the history, the employee handbook and everyones ultimate goal - the Monster of the Month gallery.
Overview
Disney and Pixar have done it again! This is a marvellous film and the complete DVD package is excellent.
I'm not sure how long folk will be impressed with the amount of detail or volume of information provided in extras of this quality but this is definately a "Get it while it's hot!" package.
Highly recommended!
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