Parent Movie Guide, Parental Site.com

	Film Title: Monsters INC.		Best for ages: 5 and up.

	Movie Website: Click Here	Year Released: 2001	Rated: G (US)

The Review
Most children, at some point in their lives, fear monsters. As the father of a two-and-a-half-year-old, I recently discovered that my daughter seems to think they are everywhere at night. In her room, hiding in the shadows, in the closet, under the bed and even in her toy box. Beams of light that shine though her window at night from passing cars, or a shadows on the wall, or the sound that the clock in the kitchen makes all wake her up and send her running into our bedroom. Sometimes, she will not even sleep in her room unless certain lights are on and either my wife or I is present. It has been an ongoing thing for a few months now. Therefore, when the good people over at Disney decided to put Monsters, Inc. on Blu-ray I saw it as the perfect opportunity to show my daughter that monsters are more scared of us than we are of them. Monsters, Inc. was released by Pixar and Disney in 2001 and went on to gross 255 million dollars domestically. The animated film stars John Goodman and Billy Crystal as two monsters, Sulley (Goodman) and Mikey (Crystal), as a team of scare monsters that creep into the homes of children through their closet doors at night and collect their screams to bring back into the Monsters' world to use as energy. Sulley and Mikey work in the Monstropolis Energy plant and are the top employees in the company with the most screams collected. Their rival, Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi), is trying to surpass them. When the company is closed down for the day, Randall sneaks a door into the scare room and enters in an attempt to collect more screams. When Sully sees the door there, he enters it only to find that no one is in the room. However, when he returns to the monster world, he realizes that he has brought back a visitor: A toddler, Mary (whom Sulley calls Boo). It soon becomes apparent that monsters are actually afraid of children, as they fear that children harbor all kinds of contaminants that can cause monsters to become fatally ill. Fearing for their jobs and their reputations, Sulley and Mikey must find a way to get Mary back into her bedroom without letting the monster bosses finding out that a human child has entered the monster world. Disney originally intended to release the Blu-ray disc in May of 2009, but the release was pushed back to November for some unknown reason. However, I am happy to say that the four-disc Blu-ray combo pack is here, and it’s absolutely one great set of discs. If you own the two-disc DVD that came out a few years ago, all the same special features are in this set as well. Those features include the two Academy Award-winning short films, Mike’s New Car, and For the Birds, as well as audio commentary with the filmmakers. Some of the new features include a great behind-the-scenes look at the new Monsters Inc. amusement park ride, Ride and Go Seek in Tokyo Disneyland where guests are put on an interactive ride that takes you through Monstropolis, where you play flashlight tag with all of the monsters from the film. The first disc also includes a filmmakers' roundtable feature in which the people responsible for the making of the film reflect on the creation of the movie and of the lovable characters. The second Blu-ray disc features some interactive games such as Roz’s 100 Door Challenge, Pixar Family Fun Tour. The third disc includes a DVD version of the film and special features, and the forth disc includes a digital copy of the film. Parents who may be a bit hesitant to let their young children watch this film should first think about whether or not their children fear monsters. The film does have some moments in which monsters scare other children and do some gross things here and there, as well as put themselves in dangerous and hazardous situations. Of course, this is all done in the mildest way possible. My young daughter, who, of course, is more advanced than most children her age, found that her fears of the dark and of monsters seems to have subsided after watching this film. I sat down and watched the whole film with her and she seemed to enjoy it, and even asked questions. The past few nights, she has fallen asleep in her room with no problems at all. She even has said to me a few times that monsters are scared of her. We will see if it holds up, however Disney and Pixar have actually helped my wife and me out by making such a great animated film. As a parent, I honestly can say that there is nothing but joy to young viewers of this film. Perhaps your child, like mine, will find that there is little to fear by learning that the monsters are a lot like you. Monsters, Inc. is, by far, one of Pixar’s and Disney’s greatest animated features. The picture quality on the Blu-ray disc is phenomenal. Be prepared to turn down the volume on your remote control because the disc comes with such a great sound mix that it feels as if the monsters are right in the room with you. This is a disc on which Disney really worked hard to make perfect, and it delivers. Monsters Inc, as a whole, is a great family film and a lot of fun to watch. It has a fun-filled story and talented actors voicing the characters. Disney and Pixar are in pre-production planning and are aiming at releasing a sequel in 2012.
BUY THIS MOVIE.