| Mike's New Car | |
| Producer: | Gale Gortney |
| Director: | Pete Docter Roger L. Gould |
| Starring: | Billy Crystal John Goodman |
| Music: | Randy Newman |
| Editing: | Robert Grahamjones |
| Production Companies: | Pixar Animation Studios |
| Distributor: | Walt Disney Home Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 5 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Mike's New Car is a 2002 American animated comedy short film, starring the protagonists from Pixar's Monsters, Inc., Mike Wazowski and James P. "Sulley" Sullivan. Directed by Pete Docter and Roger L. Gould, it is the first Pixar short to use dialogue and the first to take characters and situations from a previously established work.
The short premiered on September 17, 2002, and was included in the DVD and VHS release of Monsters, Inc. It was nominated for a 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.[1]
Mike gets a new six-wheel drive car and happily insists on showing it off to Sulley. While Sulley is confused about what happened to Mike's old car, Mike is excited to drive his new car. Unfortunately for Mike, anything that can go wrong does go wrong.
Once inside the car, Sulley plays with the adjustable power seat until an annoyed Mike snaps at him to stop. Mike starts the engine, then hears the seatbelt reminder sound chiming. Although Sulley gets his seatbelt on easily, Mike finds his stuck and accidentally falls and locks himself out of the car while attempting to unstick it. Mike instructs Sulley to push the door unlock button so he can get back in, but Sulley, confused by the massive amount of buttons on the dashboard, pushes the one that opens the hood instead. Mike tries to close it, but Sulley, in an attempt to help, accidentally shuts it on Mike's fingers, causing him to scream in pain. Sulley helps Mike get free by pushing the button again, but Mike flies onto the engine motors and gets trapped inside the engine compartment after the hood closes. Mike calls Sulley on his cell phone to open the hood again, allowing Mike to escape and close the hood.
When Mike reenters the car, he is annoyed by the continuous seatbelt reminder tone still chiming. Mike manages to put his seatbelt on, but the windshield wipers randomly turn on, annoying him even more. As Sulley tries to help, Mike quickly tells him not to touch anything and decides to do it himself. However, Mike pushes a button that loudly plays Latin music on the car's stereo system and pushes more buttons that launches the entire car into chaotic malfunction.
After a while, Mike ends the chaos by pulling the key out of the ignition. When Sulley accidentally breaks the rearview mirror in an attempt to realign it, Mike finally reaches his breaking point and forces him out of the car before speeding away, resulting in the car's destruction. Sulley then comments that the airbag did not go off, but it does immediately burst afterwards, sending Mike flying. After Sulley catches him, Mike admits that he misses his old car. During the credits, Mike reminisces about his old car before agreeing to walk to work with Sulley.
Mike's New Car was released on September 17, 2002, attached as a bonus feature on the Monsters, Inc. DVD and VHS release.[2] The DVD release features commentary by "Docter and Gould", which turn out to be the directors' young children. The short was also released on November 10, 2009, on the Monsters, Inc. Blu-ray.[3]