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Monsters, Inc. (soundtrack)

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Monsters, Inc. (An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by
Randy Newman
ReleasedOctober 23, 2001
Recorded2000–2001
GenreScore
Length1:00:30
LabelWalt Disney
ProducerRandy Newman
Pixar soundtrack chronology
Toy Story 2
(1999) 		Monsters, Inc.
(2001) 		Finding Nemo
(2003)
Randy Newman chronology
Meet the Parents
(2000) 		Monsters, Inc.
(2003) 		Seabiscuit
(2003)

Monsters, Inc. (An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2001 Disney/Pixar film of the same name. The original score is composed by Randy Newman, marking his fourth collaboration with Pixar following Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), and Toy Story 2 (1999). Along with Newman's score, the album features an original song, "If I Didn't Have You," sung by John Goodman and Billy Crystal (voices of James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski, respectively).[1] It was released on October 23, 2001, by Walt Disney Records.

The music received several nominations at prominent award ceremonies, including Academy, Grammy, and Annie award nominations."If I Didn't Have You" won Newman his first Academy Award for Best Original Song as well as a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.

Background

Monsters Inc. was Randy Newman's fourth feature film collaboration with Pixar, following Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), and Toy Story 2 (1999). Newman worked closely with director Pete Docter and John Lasseter when crafting the film's music. Presenting Mike and Sully's characters musically, Newman used "corkier" themes as compared to those for Woody and Buzz from Toy Story. He used unusual instruments like the bass harmonica and bass accordion, as well as jazz, to represent their friendship. For the character Boo, Newman first wrote frightening music to express the way the monster world perceives her, while her other theme was played as a little girl going to sleep. The music in the "Scare Floor" sequence was meant to resemble 1940s jazz, much like the city scene in A Bug's Life. Newman drew influence from Nino Rota when writing music for the character Randall.[2]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Randy Newman

No.TitleLength
1."If I Didn't Have You" (performed by Billy Crystal and John Goodman)3:41
2."Monsters, Inc."2:09
3."School"1:38
4."Walk to Work"3:29
5."Sulley and Mike"1:57
6."Randall Appears"0:49
7."Enter the Heroes"1:03
8."The Scare Floor"2:41
9."Oh, Celia!"1:09
10."Boo's Adventures in Monstropolis"6:23
11."Boo's Tired"1:03
12."Putting Boo Back"2:22
13."Boo Escapes"0:52
14."Celia's Mad"1:41
15."Boo Is a Cube"2:19
16."Mike's in Trouble"2:19
17."The Scream Extractor"2:12
18."Sulley Scares Boo"1:10
19."Exile"2:17
20."Randall's Attack"2:22
21."The Ride of the Doors"5:08
22."Waternoose is Waiting"3:14
23."Boo's Going Home"3:34
24."Kitty"1:20
25."If I Didn't Have You" (performed by Newman)3:38
Total length:1:00:30

Reception

AllMusic gave the album a three out of five star rating, saying: "As with both of the Toy Story movies and A Bug's Life, the soundtrack to Disney/Pixar's Monsters, Inc. features a fun, whimsical score by Randy Newman." Noting the retro feel of the album, they also added, "While this album probably won't appeal to most kids, it's nice that Disney acknowledges the huge adult following that Pixar's films have by releasing this playful, detailed score."[3] Empire rated it three out of five stars and summarised: "Colourful, likeable, then, but hardly memorable."[4] Filmtracks.com wrote: "The album for Monsters, Inc. is generous in its presentation of the score, with over 50 minutes of orchestral material available, and no modern pop songs to spoil the mix. Still, it's a disappointing product overall given Newman's lack of stylistic alteration in light of so many possibilities."[5]

In a three out of five stars review Movie Wave stated: "Monsters, Inc. makes for generally a very entertaining and satisfying album, but despite all the comments above, Newman is at his best when scoring serious drama like Awakenings and Avalon and I hope that he manages to squeeze some of those in along with the inevitable Pixar projects to come his way over the coming years."[6] Soundtrack.Net rated the soundtrack three and a half stars out of five and wrote: "It's nothing groundbreaking or unexpected—it's just high quality work from Randy Newman."[7]

Far Out ranked it second in the best of Newman's scores (top ten): "Powered by a funky jazz soul, Randy Newman helps to bring the truly loveable world of Monsters, Inc. to life with a frenetic soundtrack that overflows with imagination, fun and excitement."[8] In their top ten Musical scores from Pixar, MovieWeb ranked it second and wrote: "The lively, rhythmic swing of the movie's soundtrack has a contagious energy that forces you to move. The main theme for the movie is pure jazz with an insanely catchy brass section. Arguably, it's one of Newman's best works for a Pixar movie."[9]

Chart positions

Chart (2001) Peak

position

US Top Soundtracks (Billboard)[10] 25

Accolades

Awards[11]
Year Association Award Category Recipient (if any) Result
2002 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards Top Box Office Films of 2002 Award Randy Newman Won
Academy Awards[12][13] Best Original Score Nominated
Best Original Song (for "If I Didn't Have You") Won
Motion Picture Sound Editors Best Sound Editing in Animated Feature – Music Bruno Coon Nominated
World Soundtrack Awards Best Original Song Written for a Film (for "If I Didn't Have You") Randy Newman, Billy Crystal and John Goodman Won
Best Original Soundtrack of the Year - Orchestral Randy Newman Nominated
Soundtrack Composer of the Year
2003 Annie Awards[14] Outstanding Music in an Animated Feature Production
Grammy Awards Best Song (for "If I Didn't Have You") Won
Best Score Soundtrack Album Nominated

References

  1. ^ "Monsters Inc: Production Notes". Culture.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  2. ^ Noyer, Jérémie (November 13, 2009). "Monsters, Inc.'s Composer Randy Newman: "I score because I care!"". Animated Views. Archived from the original on January 24, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  3. ^ Phares, Heather.Monsters, Inc. (An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack) Archived May 29, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. AllMusic.
  4. ^ Freer, Ian. Monsters, Inc. Soundtrack review Archived November 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Empire.
  5. ^ Monsters, Inc. (Randy Newman) Archived November 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Filmtracks.com. October 30, 2001.
  6. ^ Southall, James (2002). Monsters, Inc. Archived June 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Movie Wave.
  7. ^ Goldwasser, Dan (October 21, 2001). Monsters, Inc. (2001) Soundtrack Archived May 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Soundtrack.net Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  8. ^ "The top 10 film scores of Randy Newman". Far Out Magazine. November 28, 2021. Archived from the original on November 30, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  9. ^ "Best Musical Scores From Pixar Movies, Ranked". MovieWeb. 2022-05-16. Archived from the original on 2023-05-20. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  10. ^ Monsters, Inc. (An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack) - Randy Newman Awards Archived August 5, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  11. ^ "Monsters, Inc. (2001) Awards". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2011. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2009.
  12. ^ "The 74th Academy Awards (2002) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS. Archived from the original on March 14, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  13. ^ "Full list of Oscar winners and nominees". The Guardian. 2002-02-12. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  14. ^ "30th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2002)". The Annie Awards. The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
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