The Academy Award®-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") and 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 Ratzenberger, Bob Peterson, Frank Oz, and Bonnie Hunt, "Monsters, Inc." is a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios Film. "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 president, 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." Docter recalls, "‘Toy Story’ was so much fun and touched a lot of people because they could relate to it. 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. My clothes would turn into different things – tentacles, claws, eyes. We began thinking that there must be some reason why monsters scare kids and started playing with that notion." Commenting on Disney’s fourth collaboration with Pixar, Thomas Schumacher, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, observes, "‘Monsters, Inc.’ represents another major achievement for Pixar Animation Studios and the art of computer animation. Disney is proud of our partnership with this amazing group of filmmakers. The film itself is a brilliant piece of entertainment with memorable characters and hilarious situations. Pete Docter has successfully added feature film directing to his long list of accomplishments and this film reflects his gentle nature and sly sense of humor. Audiences are going to love the fun and unbridled imagination of this film and will remember it for a long, long time." Set in Monstropolis, a thriving company town where monsters of all shapes and sizes reside, the film follows the hilarious misadventures of James P. Sullivan (known to all as "Sulley") and his best friend, roommate, and co-worker, Mike Wazowski. Both work at Monsters, Inc., the largest scream processing factory in the monster world, where Sulley is the top kid Scarer and Mike is his enthusiastic Scare Assistant. The main power source in the monster world is the collected screams of human children. At Monsters, Inc., an elite team of Scarers is responsible for gathering those precious natural resources. Complicating matters is the fact that monsters believe human children to be toxic and direct contact with them is forbidden. When a little girl (named Boo) accidentally follows Sulley back into his world, he finds his career in jeopardy and his life in utter chaos. Assisted by Mike, he schemes to rectify his mistake but the trio becomes caught up in a series of complications and unexpected intrigue beyond their wildest dreams.