Monsters, Inc.

What’s it about?

Monsters scare children so that they can collect their screams to power the city Monstropolis. All is well for the top two monster employees of Monsters Inc … until they come across a human child.

The facts

• Directed by Peter Docter (Up, Inside Out)
• English language
• Runtime: 92 minutes
• Starring Billy Crystal, John Goodman, and Steve Buscemi

Why did it get this rating?

This film was cross-rated by the Film and Video Labelling Body. You can find out more about cross-rating here.

Horror

Monsters sneak into children’s bedrooms and try to scare them. Although we don’t often see it, we do hear their screams. When a child screams, lights flicker and TVs go static.

In two scenes, monsters try to scare a child, but the child is later revealed to be a test doll.

There are different types of monsters with scary features. Some have lots of eyes, weird body shapes, sharp teeth, long arms or legs, tentacles, and horns.

Violence

A character is trapped in a machine where they struggle to break free. They are drained and turn pale before passing out.

A character slams the shutters down on another character’s fingers. We see his fingers crushed and hear him scream.

One character twists another character’s arms to threaten them. In another scene, one character strangles another during a fight, before they finally break free. This may be disturbing for some viewers.

A character gets beaten up with a shovel. We don’t actually see it but we do see silhouettes and hear it happening.

Further information

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?
• Monsters University guide