Audio Video News

Voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly. Directed by Peter Doctor, David Silverman. Aspect ratios: 1.85:1, 4:3. Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX, DD Surround 5.1 sound-effects-only track, THX-certified. 94 minutes. 2001. Buena Vista Home Entertainment 93968. G. $29.99.

Monsters, Inc. is another delightful romp from the team of Walt Disney Studios and Pixar Animation, following on the success of Toy Story I and II and A Bug's Life. Endlessly inventive and funny for both children and adults, it also sets new standards in the art of computer animation. While that field is becoming increasingly crowded with competitors that have successfully explored new areas (the photorealism of Final Fantasy and the edgy humor of Shrek, for example), Pixar has yet to be outdone.

The story takes place in both the human world and in a parallel world populated with bizarre creatures—monsters, to us—of every possible description. The energy needed to keep the monster world and its capital city, Monstropolis, humming comes from the screams of human children. Monsters, Inc. is the company that generates that power with its team of expert scarers, none of them better than James P. Sullivan. But when a child passes through a door between the human and monster worlds, panic ensues. Sully and his multi-talented buddy, Mike Wazowski, try to put things right while becoming increasingly attached to the child, whom Sully has named "Boo."

This two-disc set includes both reformatted full-frame (4:3) and 1.85:1 (anamorphic widescreen) transfers of the film. I reviewed only the widescreen version. The picture quality of the extra features is satisfactory but somewhat variable, with a fair number of artifacts visible on the "Making of" features. But the video on the film itself, transferred directly from the digital files with no intermediate film step involved, is bright (there aren't any really dark scenes), crisp, and highly detailed. Only one word, in fact, fully describes it: spectacular.

While the story and remarkable visuals are the main attractions here, the soundtrack isn't far behind. Some viewers may bemoan the lack of DTS, but the Dolby Digital 5.1 EX (I auditioned it in 5.1 without its EX rear surround channel) leaves little to be desired. The dialogue is well-recorded and the music and effects are clean and spacious—and the deep, room-shaking bass and aggressive surround activity, while not pervasive, really stand out when they turn up at key moments in the action.

How all of this was created is explained in the extensive extras provided in this two-disc set. These include outtakes, the animated short For the Birds (which accompanied Monsters, Inc. in its theatrical run and was, like the feature itself, nominated for an Academy Award, which it won), and another animated short, Mike's New Car, created exclusively for the DVD. There are also extensive behind-the-scenes features on important aspects of the production ("HumanWorld"); humorous looks at more aspects of the "Monsters' World"; sneak-peek previews of two upcoming Disney theatrical animated features, Treasure Planet (Thanksgiving 2002) and Finding Nemo (summer 2003), the latter also from Pixar; a commentary track from director Peter Doctor, co-director Lee Unkrich, executive producer John Lasseter, and executive producer and screenwriter Andrew Stanton; and more. There's not much to complain about here, unless you count those forced trailers at the beginning of the feature. Disney used to reserve this annoyance for its plain-vanilla, single-disc releases. Or the mix-and-unmatch aspect ratios of the special features (common to nearly all such extras we've seen, from all studios—with the notable exception of the fully anamorphic extras on Disney's own Atlantis: The Lost Empire).

The only DVD transfer I've seen in the past year that is even comparable to Monsters, Inc. is Shrek. The two films are very different in style; Shrek has noticeably more detailed backgrounds, but Monsters, Inc. has plenty of surprises of its own. From the detail and natural movement of Sully's hair to the spectacular final scenes as Sully and Mike try to rescue Boo, there's no shortage of eye-popping wonders here. Monsters, Inc. is a must-own, whether you're a hardcore animation fan or just love great movies.