It’s dark and warm.  There is a small head lying against my neck, another resting on my shoulder, both within kissing distance, which I take advantage of as we snuggle up close and watch the film.  I love moments like this.  Where we’re totally relaxed and comfortable.  Where there’s no other agenda but to have fun.   It’s almost like time doesn’t exist for a while which is fab when you’re 3 weeks into term and already the homework, early mornings and rush for school is taking its toll.

It’s only in the last few months that I have been able to take both my girls to the cinema and been sure that we’d make it happily to the end of the film.  Miss M is one of those kids who cannot sit for long.  She effervesces with energy.  Bubbles with boingyness. Fizzes over with, erm, fizzy stuff.  Seriously, if this child has to stay still and concentrate for more than twenty minutes she literally explodes and it’s not pretty.  But today, as we sit watching Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure at Cineworld in Sheffield, courtesy of the lovely Think Parents team, she only wiggles a little bit and not once does she ask if she can go to the loo – which is always a sure fire sign that she has had enough.  I mean when the toilet is a more attractive choice than whatever else is going on, then whatever else is going on must be pretty pants right??  

Or ugly pants.

The only other occasion when we have gotten through a whole film without whinging, fidgeting, singing or the words ‘poo, bump, trump or bottom head’ being hurled between the two smallest people in the room, is when myself and my girls sat down to watch our latest Disney Blu-Ray DVD.
It’s one of my most favourite kids films of all time and always reminds me of my mate Dez as she compared ‘Boo’ to a tiny Miss E who was a very cheeky two year old when it was first released…

I have to admit when I agreed to become a Disney Blu-Ray Ambassador, I secretly hoped that Monsters Inc would be one of the films we got to review.  Brilliantly animated and perfectly voiced by amongst others the fabulous John Goodman and Billy Crystal, this is a film that showcases the best of Disney.  There’s the loveable yet flawed enough to be ‘real’ characters of Sulley and Mike Wasowski; the top Scare Team in Monstropolis, and the truly shiver inducing baddy, Randall whose chameleon-esque abilities mean you never know where he’ll appear next. There’s the cute kid, Boo, whose utterance of the words ‘Mike Wasowski’ is quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen, some fabulous special effects/animation in the doors scene, and even a little romance between snake-haired receptionist Celia Mae and Mr Wazowski himself.

If there is anyone left on the planet who hasn’t yet seen this wonderful movie, then the basic plot is that the ‘Monster in the Cupboard’ truly exists, and its job is to burst into your kids’ rooms in the middle of the night and gather their screams.  Why?  Well, in the world where these monsters live, screams are the main power source, hence the need for Scare Teams at Monsters Inc.  Ironically actual physical contact with humans is thought to be dangerous for monsters, so when Sulley accidentally lets a toddler into Monstropolis, panic, chaos and hilarity ensues with the following questions needing to be answered.

Is toddler ‘Boo’ really a contaminant to be disposed of?
Will Mike and Celia ever get it together?
And who is the real enemy within the ranks?

So should you watch this film?

YES.

Is it better on Blu Ray??

YES YES YES.

If only because of the way Sulley’s fur blows in the breeze, sighhhhh.

And if that isn’t enough to convince you, can I just say that this film made both my children laugh and cry.

And, AND, at the end, they laughed and cried at the same time and Miss E shouted, as the tears rolled down her cheeks, “This one’s a five Mummy.  This one’s a five.”

So there you have it.  On the Beaufoix scale Monsters Inc is chocolate.  Any kind and every kind of chocolaty goodness.

Perfect.