Film Analysis: Monsters, Inc.

Description Monsters, Inc., a 2001 animated comedy directed by Pete Docter and produced by Pixar Animation takes place in a fictional city inhabited by monsters called Monstropolis. The movie focuses on James P. “Sully” Sullivan and Mike Wazowski, two monsters who work at the factory Monsters Incorporated. The factory employs monsters to travel to a parallel human world to capture the screams of human children which are then converted into energy to power the city. The movie follows Mike and Sully as they try to break the scare record only to be distracted by Boo, a human child, who manages to follow them into Monstropolis. Boo’s presence causes Mike and Sully to question their actions regarding their job while also struggling to get Boo home …show more content…
On one side, Monsters, Inc. is a family comedy with an interesting plotline and relatable characters. For example, Sully begins the film focused on achieving the scare record. He does not care about the children that he scares and only cares about being the best. As the film progresses and Sully becomes closer to Boo he starts to see the effect that scaring has on the children and realizes that being the best is not worth it if you have to ruin other people’s lives in the process. This is a message that many people can relate to. Sometimes a person can become so focused on achieving a goal that they do not realize the harm that they are causing those around them. In addition, Monsters, Inc can be interpreted as a movie about overcoming fears and the stress of succeeding. In Docters other works such as Inside Out, he deals with the complex issue of mental health. While the issue of overcoming fears and the pressure of success are not the driving plot of the story, in the same way that mental health is in Inside Out, it is still an element that viewers can take away from the film. The result of Pixar tackling these issues is that it introduces them to young viewers in a way that is easy for them to