In order to dissect his character I will first look at his appearance as this is what people notice first and determines how his personality is portrayed. I will then look at the role he plays in the story because the way he reacts to the situations he and Sully encounter during the film help flesh out his character. I will investigate his relationship with the main characters in the film as I suspect it is through is his interaction with the other characters that the audience empathizes with him. I’ll also look at the key scenes that I feel develop Mikes character and make him more memorable. Finally I will look at three other animated films to try and pick out similarities between the characters.

Mike is a very simple character, essentially just a head on legs. He has one eye which is larger than usual and dominates his face and he has large hands which facilitate expressive

gestures. His character design, with all of his limbs pointing to his face, leads the viewers attention straight to his eye. Mike uses facial expressions and body language more in keeping with cel animation. He only has one eyebrow which would have been a problem for the animators so they made it double jointed, it acts as two eyebrows with a bend in the middle allowing him to use the full range of facial expressions normally requiring two eyes.

Randalls first scene in the film shows him scaring Mike and from that scene on it is clear they don’t like each other and that Mike is afraid of him. Randall is the bad guy in the film and the fact that he picks on Mike makes the audience dislike him and feel empathy for Mike. In Randalls first scene after he has left Mike says that he will let Sully beat him up, this shows that he is afraid of confronting him.

People can also relate to Mike through his interaction with the character Roz, Mike has to hand in his paperwork to her each day and when he forgets he tries to sweet talk his way out of it. Roz is always unimpressed with his efforts and puts him in his place each time. The audience can relate to this as most people have at some point in their life had to try and explain to an authority figure why they haven’t done something they should have done.

Mikes relationships with the other characters in the film help to highlight the different sides of his personality and make his character more three dimensional. To Sully he acts like a mentor, he wakes him up in the mornings and helps him train and when they are at work he is the organized one, taking care of the admin side while Sully does the physical work. As the plot progresses Mike continually tries to convince Sully to play it safe. Mike is more concerned with his own safety than anything else although this changes later in the film when he grows attached to the child character Boo.

As the story progresses Mike provides the voice of reason, he counteracts Sully who is more impulsive and Sully turns to mike for advice throughout the film. Mike is the main comedy character and provides most of the humour through the film and this is what makes his character likable.

Some topics in this essay:
Spirits Within’, Monsters Inc, Shawshank Redemption, Sully Boo, Mike Mikes’, Studio Ghibli, Roz Mike, Boo Mike, Randall Randall, Studio Ghibli’s, facial expressions, throughout film, body language, scene mike, mike sully, animated films, moments film, language facial expressions, mike afraid, scene sully, interaction characters audience, character factors, body language facial, throughout film audience, scene mike sully,