Pete Docter builds animated worlds around feelings that children and adults struggle to explain. We rate him for the patient affection beneath the clever premises, especially in Sullivan’s care for Boo in Monsters, Inc..
Fi1m perspective
In Monsters, Inc. (2001), the creatures who earn their living frightening children are terrified of children themselves. Pete Docter builds a working society around that reversal, with enough everyday irritation for adults to recognise the place. His first feature as director is a funny, tender comedy whose central friendship, voiced by John Goodman and Billy Crystal, deserves our affection.
The surest evidence of Docter’s skill comes when Sullivan looks after Boo. We were moved more than we expected by his care for her, because Goodman’s gentler delivery makes the attention feel patient and particular. Mary Gibbs voices Boo, and Docter allows her presence to matter without making every encounter a lesson in how to behave. There is plenty of rushing about, but he gives their relationship enough time for us to stay interested in the child amid the commotion.
His later films put the feelings closer to the centre of the premise. Up (2009) combines adventure with grief and the possibility of beginning again late in life. Inside Out (2015) personifies emotions inside a child’s mind to examine memory, sadness and growing up. Soul (2020), co-directed with Kemp Powers, follows a jazz musician between realms to ask what makes a life worthwhile. The later premises ask increasingly direct questions about how people live and what they need.
The supporting characters in Monsters, Inc. are sometimes thinly drawn, which matters in a film that makes so much of its working society. A few more of those lives deserve the close attention given to Sullivan and Boo. Docter gets his strongest results here by giving Goodman room to make that care believable, rather than insisting on a lesson every time the pair meet. Start with Monsters, Inc. for the jokes, but do not hurry past the quieter exchanges.
Biography
Pete Docter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and animator. Born Peter Hans Docter on 9 October 1968 in Bloomington, Minnesota, he studied character animation at the California Institute of the Arts. He joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1990 as its third animator and contributed to early films including Toy Story (1995) as story artist and supervising animator.
Docter made his directorial debut with Monsters, Inc. (2001). He later directed Up (2009), Inside Out (2015) and Soul (2020). Since 2018 he has served as Pixar’s chief creative officer. He has received three Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature, for Up, Inside Out and Soul.
