This book would be better titled The CONCEPT ART of Monsters Inc.
If you are a mega-super-colossal-ultra-fantastic-hyper-quadruple fan of the Pixar film Monsters Inc. and want to see the art that never made it into the film, this book is for you.
If, however, you are a fan of the finished film and want to see some of the sketches, storyboards, and somewhat early art that made it into the film, this book is not for you.
"Concept art" is art that is used to sell a potential motion picture to movie studio executives. Usually, only a short (six to 15 pages) treatment outlining the film's characters, plot, and scenes exists. There's no script, major problems still exist in the narrative, and no one has any idea what character, costumes, props, or sets will look like. "Concept art" helps the movie studio exeuctive visualize what the movie might look like.
Pixar is usually at work on three or four films at time. One film is in the concept art stage; one film is in the script-writing stage (since Toy Story 2, Pixar refuses to move ahead on a film without a finished script); one film is in the character design, storyboard, and art design phase; and one film is in production.
Character design is where Pixar's top animators and designers take concept art and the script and come up with the character you will see on film. Once a "final draft" of the main characters is reached, the storyboard artists will draw pictures showing each major shot or scene in the film. Camera movements will be depicted on the storyboard, and the major movement of a character in the scene or shot indicated. At the same time, art department staff will be designing detailed backgrounds, props, costumes, hair, skin textures, and more for the "final draft" characters. They often are the ones to think through the details: Just how does Nemo "breathe" underwater? How will all the toys in Toy Story 3 swirl down toward the shredder? How will a car in the final racing sequence of Cars spin out, exactly? Sometimes, the art department folks will discover problems with character design, shots, even story and narrative. Tweaking, sometimes even major changes, in the film might occur as the storyboard and art departments go back and forth, working out the broad strokes and minor details of the animated motion picture.
If you are like me, you probably want to see the sketches that the character designers, storyboarders, and art department people came up with as they worked out the film.
You won't find those here.
What you will find are a large amount of "concept art" paintings (as well as some sketches, drawings, and planning documents) that came a year or two before the characters Sully, Mike, Roz, Celia Mae, Boo, Randall Boggs, Henry J. Waternoose III, Yeti, Fungus, and others found close-to-final form.
Almost none of this concept art made it into the final film. So if you're a fan of the film, you won't recognize almost anything in here.
If, on the other hand, you are a cinéaste who loves the deep-background artwork that goes into an animated motion picture, this book will be pure heaven.
The book is really well-made, and large enough to show off in spectacular form and color the incredible concept art that predated Monsters Inc. There is real insight into the creative process here, and you'll be very surprised at how the treatment was interpreted by the concept artists.
The book is not, however, ordered thematically or chronologically. Very early concept art and sketches can be found scattershot throughout the book. If you want to see the progression in the concept art, as it was critiqued and altered by discussions with the storytellers, writers, director, or studio executives, you will be hard pressed to discover that.
There is also no index. If you want to focus on the work of a particular artist, you'll have to make your own notes.
Finally, the book has a near-complete lack of text. There's an introduction, and a few quotes (fewer than 10) throughout the pages, but that's it. Unlike The Art of WALL*E, which contains a great amount of text explaining how art was conceived, evolved, changed, and was finalized, there's almost nothing in The Art of Monsters Inc. to help you.
My own sense is one of disappointment. I expected a book of storyboards and art department design, even some comparisons with final film cels. The title of this book is so misleading, however, that I felt cheated and let down. I might (or might not) have purchased a book with the title The Concept Art of Monsters Inc.; but at least Pixar should have the guts to engage in truth-in-advertising here, and not dupe me into purchasing a book I do not want.