Monsters, Inc. – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

Remember when we, as little boys and girls, checked under our beds, and in our closets for that spooky monster we swore was there? Our parents would let us rest assured that we were alright from that noise in the dark, and would shut off our lights again, only to have us with the sheets pulled tight, griped in fear, hoping such a thing was what our parents have said: “it was just your imagination”. Did we ever believe them?

Even if you were a bit more like me as a child, who embraced such creatures of the night, that’s one of the great things about Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. how they took this childhood fear, and crafted such an imaginative, pleasing, and charming film for 80 minutes. I also love how people really get into categorizing Pixar films, ranking them from worst to best, but for Pixar, like the keys on the piano, there’s no duds, just fine notes played differently each time, and each time they always seem to be the right note. Monsters, Inc., if anything, proved to movie goers that they weren’t a one and done studio, that each time, their films are going to be worth your dollar, and equally as pleasing as the last.

Pixar crafts stories, with little exposition to this world we are about to step into and they’ve really mastered the art of story telling, because this film’s world is pretty complex, yet we instantly know about it with such soft gestures and little hints. The doors are portals directly into the kids rooms, yet the film explodes with imaginative ideas from this simple notion, ideas that are timeless, as now with some years on the picture, it holds up with each repeated viewing. Ideas like contamination as a sock gets stuck on the back of a monster, or a scene where a monster is equally as scared as the kid it’s trying to scare, are standouts for the fun twist and humor. But what sets Pixar miles ahead of their competition is that they know when to turn off the humor, to focus on the theme of the film, and with Monsters, Inc. is about friendship between Sulley and Mike, much like all of their films, but each film has something different to tell.

This balancing of notes, between humor, themes, storytelling, and ideas has always been a Disney trademark from good old Walt himself, yet it seems like everyone misses the mark, except for Pixar. No wonder Disney snatched them up back in the day, and will never let go. Monsters, Inc. as an idea would have been a solid animated film, but with the Pixar team, namely Pete Docter (who would later go on and give us Up), we get a special film on all accounts.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Disney’s Blu-ray efforts are second to none, especially in animation, and again, it should go without saying how amazing this presentation is. The DTS track is bombastic; everything from the crunching bass, to the hyper active surround activity, to dialogue, could not be better. Demo quality? I believe so. Having seen Monsters, Inc. on a variety of formats and TVs, even ones that were calibrated, nothing holds a candle to this video perfection. Details are as high as the animators put in, colors vibrant and rich, textures clearer now than before…hey, it’s Disney, Pixar, and on Blu-ray. Expect perfection.

Disney has given us the DVD’s extras from the release a few years ago, sadly not in HD.

Commentary: Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton (Wall*E), and more sit down to discuss the film from its origins to final product, and the track is a rich and enlightening experience for film fans of all kinds. No dead spots, no boring insights, it feels like a free film school chat, worth listening too for those types of people, yet it doesn’t alienate non-students either. If you have any interest in film as a fan or student, here’s a great track.

Mike’s New Car: This short is in HD, and it’s a quick and light-hearted effort. Cute, funny, and worth a watch.

For the Birds: This short is also in HD, as this was the short film that played in front of Monsters, Inc. prior to the film back theatrically. Not their best, but still pretty fun to watch. I love how Pixar has kept the short popular theatrically, and I hope it continues.

Trailers: HD looks at Toy Story 3, Up, and Disney’s new release of Dumbo.

Banished Concepts: Hosted by Lee Unkrich, we get to see five deleted scenes from the film. In HD.

Storyboard to Film Comparison: A side-by-side look at their storyboards and how they translated to final film version, all in HD too.

Here’s what is new to this Blu-ray version:

Director’s Intro: Docter talks for a minute on what to expect from the film’s first Blu-ray release. In HD.

Filmmakers Round table: In HD, this 22 minute chat with the guys from Pixar feels like the commentary filmed, so expect a lively, fun discussion of the film and more, from the cafe they love to go too.

Monsters, Inc Ride and Go Seek: Docter introduces us to the new Monsters, Inc. ride at Disneyland in Tokyo. Looks cool, but when am I ever going to go? I have never been to any Disneyland or World. Sad me. In HD.

Roz’s 100 Door Challenge: Disney loves putting games on their discs for everyone, especially kids to enjoy and I think they’re neat. Not really their best though, as it feels too cheap for most to enjoy.

That does it for the HD extras, as the rest of the extras are ported over from the once awesome 2-disc set from a few years back. This is on disc 2.

Animation is a 28 minute look at the process that went into the film, as it’s broken up into six parts. Music & Sound is a quick featurette on the sound design of the film and the song Billy Crystal sings, Location Flyarounds is a look at the setting without the characters present, Monster File take s look at the film’s various characters, Set Dressing looks at how the filmmakers created each scene’s look of the set, Release is the film’s EPK material, Monsters Only is a section for the trailers, music videos, and other odds and ends, with Art Gallery rounding out the extras with over 900 (!) stills to shuffle through.

That’s a lot of extras, perhaps too much for a single viewing, but it covers all aspects of the film’s production. Personally, the commentary and the Filmmakers round table is where the best material is at.

Disc 3 is the DVD version of the film. Disc 4 is the Digital Copy of the film.

Conclusion: The film? Great. The Blu-ray? Perfection. Your wallet? $30 less. ‘Nuff said? Yep, just buy it!

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: