BVPublicity.com
Slimy Randall Boggs (left) is chosen to replace
Sulley (right) as the top Scarer in "Monsters,
Inc.," much to the chagrin of Mike Wazowski
(center).
By Taylor Kim
Daily Bruin Contributor
Students still scared of the boogeyman or whatever is hiding
under their beds should watch out for “Monsters, Inc.,”
which opens at theaters today.
Pixar Animations burst into the limelight with the success of
“Toy Story” and immediately developed a following of
devoted fans with the addition of “A Bug’s Life”
and “Toy Story 2.” With three successes out of three
attempts, it is no wonder that everyone has confidence in
Pixar/Disney’s latest animation feature “Monsters,
Inc.”
Director Pete Doctor, a veteran of all three of Pixar’s
films, first conceived of the idea five years ago.
“”˜Toy Story’ was so much fun and touched a lot
of people because they could relate to it,” Doctor said.
“I began thinking about other things that were true for me as
a kid. One thing I knew was that monsters existed and they were in
the closet, especially at night. … We began thinking that there
must be some reason why monsters scare kids and started playing
with that notion.”
This idea developed into a world called Monstropolis, where the
source of power is human children’s screams.
Monsters, Inc. is Monstropolis’s largest scare factory
with their prize Scarer, James P. Sullivan (John Goodman), a huge,
intimidating monster with blue fur, large purple spots and horns.
His Scare Assistant is his best friend and roommate, Mike Wazowski
(Billy Crystal), a lime green, opinionated, feisty, one-eyed
monster.
Sullivan, affectionately called Sulley by friends, accidentally
lets in a human girl, who he names “Boo,” into the
monster world. This is catastrophic, as all of Monstropolis fears
that one touch from a human child could kill them, and are prepared
with the Central Decontamination Agency, poised and ready to
extinguish even the smallest human sock for fear of
contamination.
The success of Dreamwork’s “Shrek” earlier
this year proved that an older audience does exist for animation.
“Monsters, Inc.” executive producer, John Lasseter,
said that older audiences, including teenagers and college
students, formed some of Pixar’s best audiences.
 BVPublicity.com "Monsters, Inc." opens in theaters
everywhere today. At the same time, Pixar strives for and takes
pride in attaining a G-rating for all their films. With a
diverse market including children and adults, Pixar tackles a
challenge.
“Kids and adults will love this movie because the idea of
it is so universal,” Crystal said. “We’ve all
been scared. We’ve all been worried about what’s
in the closest. … This movie embraces that and teaches us how to
handle fear.”Â
The universality of these fears as well as the depth of
character and relationships are important in Pixar films.Â
The relationship between Sulley and Mike was so important to
develop that Goodman and Crystal taped their sessions together, a
first in Pixar’s film history. Their spontaneity and energy
bouncing off of each other is reflected in their dialogues.
“Billy and I had a lot of fun working together on this
movie,” Goodman said. “He’s fast and funny, and
my job was to just hold onto his tail and follow wherever
he’d go. … It was fun to feed him and see which other way
he would bounce. It translates perfectly to Mike and
Sulley. They’re so symbiotic and such a great roommate
team.”
John Ratzenberger, gracing “Monsters, Inc.” with a
cameo appearance is labeled Pixar’s “good-luck
charm,” being associated with all four Pixar films.Â
Ratzenberger maintains that he will always be there for a role with
Pixar.
“As an actor, it’s a joy to be working with the
Pixar team,” he said. “They always start with a strong
story and won’t even start to think about designing
characters or starting to animate until the story is solid. … The
Pixar characters have more depth and even the body language, the
tilt of the head, the arch of an eyebrow has such painstaking
detail.”
With a script years in the making and refined computer
animation, the filmmakers of the movie hope “Monsters,
Inc.” will fair well with audiences everywhere.
The final goal of Pixar is connecting the audience to the
movie.
“Ultimately, the real satisfaction is telling a story that
people respond to,” Doctor said.