DVD Review: Monsters, Inc.

By Glenn Abel

The fruits of this obsession are on display in the DVD release of "Monsters, Inc.," the animation blockbuster that examines when bad things happen to things that go bump in the night.

The Buena Vista Home Entertainment release (retail $29.99) sprawls over two discs, with a clear separation of extras for kids (they enter a door marked Monsters) and adults (Humans). The segregation is helpful, but everyone will want to go everywhere anyway.

A new "Monsters, Inc." cartoon ("Mike's New Car") exclusive to the disc should delight everyone, regardless of age. It includes what could be a dubious first: a cartoon character using a cell phone when trouble strikes.

The crush of special features can be a bit much, so the chronically zany folks at Pixar do their best to help along viewers. Clad in Hawaiian shirts and groomed for Disneyland duty, key filmmakers do video intros for many of the extras categories. They zip through the Pixar halls on scooters, taking viewers on a department-by-department tour of the film's development and production processes. The "Blue's Clues" tone may put off animation buffs, but the discs yield more than enough drill-down features to keep the cognoscenti engaged. Civilians will find the filmmakers' commentary quite a challenge, however. Away from the visual arena, the men of Pixar lose their zip, with the discussion devolving into a survey of the film's problem-solving process. As with many group commentaries, it's hard to tell who is talking -- and when they drift off into a long discussion about the Sock, you probably won't care.

"Monsters, Inc." looks great, of course. Those lucky enough to first see the film in theaters with digital projection will find the look a bit soft, but the pastels are undeniably beautiful and easy on the eyes. The Dolby Digital EX 5.1 mix sounds solid and focused, with the rear channels used effectively for some dialogue.

One of the film's great visual moments comes after our hero monsters bring home a human child who strayed into the monsters' world. Just before bedtime, she plays while lit by exquisite candlelight. The detailers at Pixar do their thing, making sure each candle has its own pulse and flicker.

"It was very tricky," director Peter Docter says. "We looked at a lot of Renaissance paintings and 'Barry Lyndon' (the Stanley Kubrick film shot with candlelight)."

Not all visual inspirations were so highbrow. Screenwriter Andrew Stanton says he decided to create the crazy quilt of colors for individual monsters after thinking like a child.

"What comes out of your closet is the fragments of your imagination," Stanton says. "I started to think, 'What would a kid's monsters look like?'" (One discarded idea was to have children design the entire movie.)

Sulley, the movie's main monster (the turquoise one with two eyes), was the film's biggest accomplishment, the filmmakers say. More than 3 million CG hairs covered the big lug's body. Impossible to control by hand, AI came into play. "The fur figures out how to move itself," Pixar chieftain Steve Jobs explains. Another major challenge was the creation of a parallel world for the monsters. All details of everyday life had to be considered (chairs have rear openings for tails; buildings have multiple doors of different sizes). The "Monstropolis" city scenes were built subject to backlot economics. "If (a street scene) is just going to be in one shot, we can't justify spending all that effort," co-director Lee Unkrich says. Still, the city is a marvel, and you can explore some of it using a terrific "flyover" extra.

The Pixar people love their in-jokes, many revealed in the extras. Several of the film's speaking roles were recorded by company workers just for production use, but then retained. Story department head Bob Peterson does the voice of Roz, the bureaucratic nudge so popular with audiences. The movie's many screams ("fossil fuel of the monsters' world") come from the filmmakers' kids, as did some of the incidental art.

The all-in-the-family approach comes from the Pixar team working so closely over the past decade. Stanton says they've developed "the lucky chemistry that comes with a great band." To keep it fresh, the filmmakers swap roles on some films. Voice talents Billy Crystal (the motor-mouthed, one-eyed Mike Wazowski), John Goodman (Sulley) and Jennifer Tilly are seen on the job. The filmmakers had Crystal and Goodman record together, counter to tradition. "Their improv just brought the energy level up," director Docter says. Tilly gets special notice for her "coy, natural quality" as the love interest with a Medusa head.

Kids get to play with monster trading cars and read along with the story. One extra, a Sulley and Mike game developed for a Japanese TV show, was "very creepy," one young reviewer noted.

Younger kids will also enjoy some of the extras over on the adults side, especially the visual original treatment, which tells quite a different tale than the finished film.

Other features of note are the hilarious "outtakes" developed to inspire repeat business during the theatrical run; an alternative, high-energy intro to Sulley's character; a great '60s-style training film for new monsters (Roz: "Remember, the copy machine is not a toy"); and a demo reel that lets viewers toggle between stages of production, from story drawings to final color. The set also unspools the Oscar-winning toon "For the Birds" that ran with the film in theaters and a new animation of another in-joke, the Monsters, Inc. company play.

Holly Abel contributed to this review.

Glenn Abel is Executive Editor, Electronic, at The Hollywood Reporter