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A Pixar classic debuts on Blu with a stunning transfer and filled to the brim with extras.

Sometimes I wish Pixar would make every movie.  With every one of their films I see I get more and more impressed.  Although, if all movies were made by them then they would bound to slip up eventually.  Even the older movies still hold up better than half of the tripe released in theaters across the country every week, just look at the numbers on the Toy Story double feature re-release.  As the Blu-Ray technology becomes the preferred method then all of Pixar’s back catalog triumphantly make their way to the format.  The latest title to get the high definition overhaul is the 2001 hit Monsters, Inc.

The Monsters, Inc. factory is the number one supplier of scream power in Monstropolis.  The workers enter the rooms of children all over the world through their closet doors to elicit screams of terror.  These screams are collected at the factory and turned into power for monsters’ homes or cars.  As the top scarer for the company Sully (John Goodman) and his zany sidekick Mike (Billy Crystal) make the perfect team to keep their factory from going under during the recent energy crisis where the current children have become less apt to the efforts of the monsters.  What these kids don’t know is that these huge beasts are more scared of them, any small item from the child’s room that comes back into the monster’s factory is cause for shutdown and a full contamination unit on the scene.  Imagine the problems that could come from a young toddler, only known as Boo, who escapes her world and into the monters’ while hiding on Sully’s back.  Now he and Mike have to find her door to get her back to her room before anyone finds out where she is or who was responsible. 

It pretty much goes without saying that this film is wonderful.  Stunning animation and a heartfelt story with plenty of laughs, what’s not to love?  The film came out at a very rough time, less than sixty days after the events of September 11, 2001, and it was a toss up how America would react.  Would they stay at home and the film would flop?  On the contrary the flick proved to be just the thing to bring families together and give them something fun to do together for a couple of hours.  But Monsters, Inc. proved to be much more than just an escape from the recent tragedy, the movie has held its own over the last eight years. 

This Blu-Ray disc has a crystal clear transfer so wonderful it makes every hair on Sully’s body move freely as the animators intended in the painstaking process close to ten years ago.  Each scene is bright with full depth you could never have seen upon the initial home release.  Just take the scene where Sully, Mike and Boo and riding on the door track into the door vault, you will not believe your eyes when you see the camera move through the massive warehouse setting. 

The wonderful story is only helped by the tremendous voice talent - Goodman, Crystal, James Coburn and Steve Buscemi.  Each one brings the characters to life in their own way and transcends you from the world of computer animation to a place where you could actually believe they are real.  Of course this is not the job of the actors alone they only help to finish the illusion started in the animation department.

Not only do they hit it out of the park with the film itself, but the staff behind these movies love what they do and want to show it.  In order to give the fans a glimpse into all the work they do to make one of these 90 minute movies they pack their DVD to the gills.  This has been exaggerated even more with advent of Blu-Ray.  Now with the new format there is even more room to fill with features, and they take full advantage.  As usual Disney/Pixar has created a very thick Blu box with a two high def discs, the standard DVD copy and a fourth disc containing the digital copy of the movie.  Aside from the feature, on the first disc there is an audio commentary and two Pixar shorts (the original For the Birds and Mike’s New Car).  A couple of the new features are a less than ten minute look at the new Monsters, Inc. ride at Tokyo Disneyland and a near half hour round table discussion about the making-of the film with those in charge including director Pete Doctor (Up). 

The second Blu disc has a new game, “Roz’s 100-Door Challenge,” where you have to answer up to 100 questions about the film, or otherwise, to determine your position in the Monsters, Inc. company.  The rest of the disc are recycled bonus materials from the previous release, but they are nothing to turn an eye to.  There is easily a couple of hours worth of material, if not more, to view covering most every aspect behind the scenes.  They show you the Pixar studios, old concepts for the film, the original pitch with a very different storyline, art galleries and, of course, a chimp. 

As if I really have to say it - upgrade to this disc!  The visuals are stunning, the extras are worth it and the film will captivate you and your kids. 

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