In the beginning, Mike (Billy Crystal) gets stuck on the bus. He can’t cross the threshold because the door is closed.
When inside Monsters Inc., someone tells Mike not to “cross over that safety line”. The beginning of the movie shows his limitations. But when he can’t see what’s happening, he finds his own way to see what’s going on. He goes so far as to cross the threshold into a child’s room.
The next time we see Mike on a bus, he gets off successfully. He also crosses the threshold of his chosen school.
Even Randy (Steve Buscemi) gets a great entrance across a threshold. His silhouette scares Mike as he crawls out of the room.
Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) enters the classroom by flying in the window. Her entrance scares everyone in the class.
The next major threshold Mike and Sully cross together is entering the Scare Games and then entering Oozma Kappa (OK). They join the fraternity together. There is no grand entrance here, but it is noteworthy.
When running through the “stinging glow urchins”, they cross through many doorways. The first set of obstacles is on the ground, the second ones are being shot at them, and the third set is swinging. Mike and Sully try race to be the first across the finish line. On crossing it, they are surprised to find out their whole team has to cross it for them to win.
Once again, they cross into Monsters Inc. Mike has no problems breaking the rules and cutting through the fence to inspire his teammates. Scarers “use their differences to their advantage”. They have to be interesting and unusual to be effective.
It takes him and Sully working as a team to scare the adults and get back the monster world. They have crossed the threshold of friendship and use each other’s strengths to return home. When they cross the threshold back into the monster world, they scare even the dean with an explosion of scream from the human world. It is so powerful it breaks the door as they come through.
The good scarers are surprising and creative. They work together before and after crossing thresholds to get the job done. The doorways represent coming together for Mike and Sully.
There are 10 lessons anyone can learn from this movie. Interesting ideas,
Many different directorial decision were made during the creation of this movie.
See you next week!