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Monsters Inc 

Monsters, Inc. is the fourth animated feature produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on November 2, 2001, and in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2002.

The original story was written by Robert L. Baird, Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett Reese, Jonathan Roberts and Andrew Stanton. It was directed by Peter Docter, Lee Unkrich and David Silverman.

Monsters, Inc. went into general release on November 2, 2001 with the best opening ticket sales ever for an animated film and the sixth best of all time.

Plot synopsis

The story is set in Monstropolis, a city inhabited by "monsters" who despite their variety of forms, act much like human beings, down to using human names. They live in deep fear of human children, whom they believe will kill them simply by touching them. However, because the energy expended by a frightened child's screams can be converted by the monsters into electricity, "scarers" work to frighten children and are regarded as the heroes of Monstropolis for being brave enough to enter a child's room, using special doors that lead to the bedrooms and closets of the humans. The main power company in the city is called Monsters, Inc. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is a crab-like monster called Henry J. Waternoose (voiced by the late James Coburn). Lately he's been worried that children are getting harder to scare.

The top scarer at Monsters, Inc. is James P. Sullivan, aka "Sulley" (voiced by John Goodman), a blue-furred giant who is partnered with the green, one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal). The two of them are best friends. Sulley is a gentle creature, while Mike is obsessive and dreams of getting a raise and marrying his fiancee, the medusa-like Celia Mae (Jennifer Tilly.) Sulley's main rival as a scarer is the chameleon-like Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi) who possesses the ability to change the color of his skin to match his surroundings.

While taking care of paperwork for Mike, Sulley discovers a door that has been left on the scare floor after working hours, contrary to strict company policy. When Sulley investigates the door, a small human girl enters the monster world.

At first frightened, Sulley attempts to get Mike's help in returning the girl to her home, but fails to do so when she escapes into a restaurant, causing an uproar. They rush her to the home they share, hiding her there until they can think of a plan. They soon discover that the girl is not really toxic at all (it is never explained why the monsters believe that human children are dangerous). Sulley comes to befriend the playful toddler.

In the morning, they disguise her as Sulley's niece (known in the film as his cousin's sister's daughter) and take her to work with them, intending to find her closet door and put her through it. Unfortunately, the monster organization known as the Child Detection Agency (CDA) is on the alert, so getting Boo home is extremely difficult. It is while shepherding her through the building that Sulley gives her the nickname "Boo," one of the expressions in her very limited vocabulary.

Mike does not find Boo's door; he tries to send her through another, hoping that she will be taken off his hands, but Sulley is more responsible. They leave the scare floor and go looking for another solution. Boo, feeling both bored and curious, escapes from her guardian and wanders away. Sulley and Mike are forced to split up in order to search for her.

Mike runs into Randall, who orders him to bring Boo to the scare floor at noon. He promises that Boo's door will be present then (against the rules, as before; noon is the lunch break) and Mike may send her home.

Sulley, having found Boo, follows Mike to the scare floor, but does not trust Randall. Indignant, Mike enters Boo's room himself to prove that nothing is amiss, but is proved wrong when Randall, who had been waiting for Boo, captures Mike by mistake and takes him into the cellars of the factory. In the cellars, Randall has been hard at work creating a "Scream Extractor", a mechanism designed to drain someone of screams by force, which he had intended to test on Boo. His plan is to extend the exploitation of human fear already practiced, moving beyond scaring to kidnapping and draining.

Mike is rescued by Sulley, who takes the story to Waternoose. He is outwardly empathetic; he takes hold of Boo and promises to take care of her. However, rather than send her home, he instead pushes Mike and Sulley through a door into the Himalayas.

Thus banished from their home world, the two are helpless, and would die without the intervention of the talkative Abominable Snowman, who is himself an exile from the monster world. He offers them his hospitality and some well-intentioned advice. Mike is annoyed with Sulley for getting them into trouble, and Sulley is obsessed with the need to go home and rescue Boo. Mike refuses to help him. Luckily for Sulley, the Abominable Snowman knows of a Nepalese village not far away. Sulley returns to Monstropolis through a child's door therein.

Once home, he invades Randall's laboratory and seizes first Boo, then her door. Randall attacks Sulley, but Mike shows up to help after all. After a long chase sequence involving several of the magical doors, Randall is given a thorough beating by Boo, who was once his target while he worked as a scarer. Much amused, Mike and Sulley send Randall to a motor home in a Louisiana swamp, where he is beaten up a second time by the family living inside (who mistake him for an alligator). Mike and Sulley destroy that door (presumably the only one accessible in the swamp), leaving Randall trapped there.

Waternoose tries to capture Boo himself, explaining that he is willing to kidnap children in order to save his company, not realizing he is being exposed by Sulley and Mike to the CDA, who arrest him and take him to prison. The Agency's Agent Number 001 (who turns out to be Roz, the scare floor secretary) tells them that without their help, they would never have known that Randall's plan had been agreed to by Waternoose - although, because her voice is a perpetual sarcastic drawl, it's hard to tell if she's telling the truth or not. Boo is sent home, and the door corresponding to her closet door is destroyed, as she has seen too much of their world.

In order to cope with the budding energy crisis, Sulley takes over for Waternoose and redefines the company. Instead of scaring, the monsters now amuse the children, having discovered (thanks to Boo) that laughter is ten times more powerful than screams. In that time Mike, now the top laugh-getter, has reassembled Boo's door in secret, allowing Sulley to remain in contact with her. During the final scene of the movie Sulley is shown peeking into her room Boo however only speaks she isnt shown in the final scene.