When I sat down to re-watch Pixar’s films some time back, it occurred to me that I had not given the studio's fourth effort a second look since release. I recall being somewhat underwhelmed when it hit theaters in the fall of 2001, but another viewing hit me just right. On the surface, "Monsters, Inc." is just another gimmick yarn about a community of "fill in the blank" -- monsters in this case -- after the studio had great success with toys and bugs. But lingering between the lines are ideas as varied as the power of laughter and (quite pertinent) dependence on energy resources. It's equally one of the film's most sneakily emotional works to date.