![]() For the most part it's perfect demo material. 'Monsters Inc.' is about as good as it gets on Blu-ray. Edges are clearly defined, and the film is free from digital artifacts like banding, crushing, or blocking. Blacks are deep and rich, while contrast is perfect. The darker splotches on Mike have never been clearer. The colors have never been more vibrant than they are now. Aliasing telephone wires are no more, and the texture of the birds' features is even more detailed and elaborate than before. I went back and compared the quality of the two different Blu-ray releases and 'For the Birds' has definitely had animation updates. One area that was certainly updated was the video quality of the 'For the Birds' Pixar short. Randall's scales appear even more bumpy and defined than ever. If you thought that Sully's fur was phenomenally detailed and lifelike before, it appears even more so here. When it comes to fine details and textures, it almost looks like Pixar has gone back and upped the animation just to make it look even better. 'Monsters, Inc' has been given a superb near-perfect 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer. The only features missing from the previous Blu-ray release are the introduction from director Pete Docter and the Ride and Go Seek walk through. You have to go to the special features menu of disc 1, select Sneak Peeks and re-watch all of the pre-menu trailers again (or skip past them one by one) to get to it. A sticker on the slip cover entices you by promoting the included special sneak peak at this summer's 'Monsters University' – which is slightly bogus because of where this special feature is located on the discs. Included in this set are two BD-50s (one with the main feature and a few extras, and another loaded with special features) and one DVD (the standard-def feature with commentary). The biggest surprise about the new 3D Blu-ray re-release of 'Monsters, Inc.' is that even the 2D edition gets new content, visual enhancements, and audio upgrades. Children and adults alike can sit down and enjoy this film again and again for years to come. The creativity involved with the film is astounding, the writing is clever, the story is perfect and the characters are loveable. 'Monsters, Inc.' was an instant classic as soon as it hit theaters, and has only gotten better with age. How the hair on Sulley moved and appeared to be alive with every step he took was a monumental achievement in CGI animation. The best one-two punch in Pixar animation up until Ed Asner and Jordan Nagai in 'Up.' The animation at the time of its release was like nothing that had ever been seen before. Goodman and Crystal are perfectly matched here. In the simplest of ways, like a child's sock getting stuck on the back of a furry monster, and the subsequent freak out from the surrounding monsters we realize that monsters are just as afraid of kids as kids are of monsters. It's such a simple concept, but the creativity that it took to execute this is out of this world. ![]() Once switched on these doors are magically transformed into portals of fear, sending monsters straight into the rooms of children all around the world. Doors run along a conveyor belt, and lock into place. With little exposition, Pixar creates a world in which we know exactly what is happening without them telling us anything. Hot on Sulley's tail (literally) is Randall, a chameleon-like monster who is vying for the leader board position for most scares. His assistant, Mike, is made up of a single eyeball and a dry Billy Crystal wit. ![]() He's about to break the all-time scare record. Sulley (voiced by John Goodman), a giant blue monster is thick fur and ridges on his back like a dragon, is at the top of his scaring game. It just so happens that the screams emitted by children after seeing a monster emerge from their closet are the power that lights the cities of Monstropolis. Their only passage into that world is through the closet doors of small children. Monsters live in a parallel world to humans. Is it my favorite? I wouldn't say so, but I think that the creativity expressed has yet to be rivaled throughout Pixar's glorious reign as CGI animation king. I found it to be, and still think of it as, the most inventive and creative film done by Pixar thus far. Once we got a chance to find a proper cinema to go to, we went and saw 'Monsters, Inc.' in all its big screen glory. I tell this story, because even with the loud screeching sound that was being emitted by the tape, the overall blurriness of the picture, the child crying loudly in the background, and the abnormally tall silhouette head that was covering the lower right of the movie screen I still LOVED this movie. Someone had video recorded the movie in the theater on a home camera and made tapes of it. An acquaintance had given (and I stress given) us a pirated VHS copy of the film. The first time I saw 'Monsters, Inc.' I was living in England.
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