Monsters, Inc. (2001)

The Academy Awards-winning creators of "Toy Story" open the door to a frightfully funny world of monsters and mayhem and scare up lots of laughs in their new movie, 'Monsters, Inc.' This witty and imaginative new computer-animated adventure is the latest film from Disney/Pixar (following "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life," and "Toy Story 2" an is the second feature in the current five-picture association between the two studios. Featuring the inspired vocal talents of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, Steve Buscemi, Mary Gibbs, John Raizenberger, Bob Peterson, Frank Or, and Bonnie Hunt, "Monsters Inc." is a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios Firm.

'Monsters, Inc.' was directed by veteran Pixar animator/storyman Pete Docter, who was part of the Academy Award-nominated story team responsible for "Toy Story" and the supervising animator on that landmark 1995 film. Adding valuable creative input throughout the production was executive producer John Lasseter (Pixar's executive vice resident, creative), director of both "Toy Story" films and "A Bug's Life,' and a Special Achievement Academy Award-winner for "Toy Story" and a 1989 Academy Award-winner for his short film, "Tin Toy." Grammy Award-winning composer/songwriter Randy Newman once again joins creative forces with the Pixar team, bringing his impressive range of musical talents to the score and end credit song.

Pixar, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, makes its boldest leap forward yet with Monsters, Inc." The film represents the studio's most advanced and sophisticated use of computer animation technology to date, as it required 2.5 million rendermarks (a measure of computing power) compared to the nearly 1.1 million used on "Toy Story 2." Among its many impressive technical achievements is the breakthrough depiction of fur and hair, which has the shadowing, density, lighting, and movement consistent with the real thing. This is seen to best advantage with Sulley's feathery blue-green and purple spotted coat that includes nearly 3 million individual hairs, and with Boo's hair and pigtails. Another simulation program allowed Boo's T-shirt to move independently of her body. This approach represented a major advance over Pixar's previous experimentation with clothing on the short film "Geri's Game" (the 1998 Oscar-winning animated short film that played in theaters with "A Bug's Life").

Lasseter observes, "Pete and his team have done an amazing job with the characters and relationships on this film. Not only is it a funny film, but it has a richness of emotion that resonates and gives the characters a life way beyond the boundaries of the screen. In order to make a really entertaining motion picture that people will remember, you have to tell a really great story that has lots of emotion and humor, you have to have characters that will live beyond the story, and you have to put them in a world that's incredibly believable. Audiences love when they see something they've never seen before but yet has some aspect to which they can relate. 'Monsters, Inc.' presents this alternate world where the foundation is an urban company town that is familiar and yet it's presented in a way that audiences have never thought of before."

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