Monsters University [2013]

I wasn’t really sure whether should I review this movie or just leave it up to your judgment. The thing that convinced me was the urge to write more about the buyouts and the future of the animation, not so much about the movie that was average, and for some even disappointing compared to Pixar’s other work (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, Up). As you probably know Monsters University is a prequel to Monsters Inc. [2001], with Mike and Sullivan in college this time.

How this concerns kids, I don’t know, so I will just add this to the list of things that are not so much logical like fraternities and stereotyping. Some things are guaranteed in a Pixar movie, and those are phenomenal animation and perfect voice casting. Although Billy Crystal is 66 years old and John Goodman is 62, you just can’t feel that age difference, not to mention Helen Mirren and her performance as the dean Hardscrabble.

Ever since Mike” Wazowski visited their headquarters and seen Scarers at work, there was nothing else that he wanted more. He set himself one goal and one goal alone: to get into Monsters University. On the other hand, Sully, who’s father is a famous scarer, relied on his size and fame to get in. But once they’re in, they will have to prove that they are worthy of the Monsters University and its Dean Hardscrabble. To do that, two of them along with their weird friends from Oozma Kappa fraternity will have to win the Scare Games…

I often used the term almost photorealistic, but when it comes to Monsters University, the almost part is obsolete, since at times it looks as if it’s a regular and not animated motion picture. Couple this with incredibly creative monsters that look like something that came out of the game Spore and you get a phenomenal looking movie. But we all know that besides the look of the movie, the story is as is, if not more, important.

This time, the story is a kiddie version of Animal House [1978], with the same message as the movie but without the nudity and raunchy jokes. Bought by Disney I think that this is the beginning of the end for Pixar, as they will slowly start to commercialize their approach. But to say that Monsters University is a bad movie is a mistake, it offers good animated entertainment that you can watch with anyone and not just that one weird friend who has the same taste in movies as you do…

Director: Dan Scanlon

Writer:  Dan Scanlon, Daniel Gerson

Cast: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Charlie Day, Alfred Molina

Fun Facts: Despite being offered the role of Dean Hardscrabble outright, Helen Mirren requested that she audition for the role anyway to ensure that the film’s makers were satisfied with her performance.

Rating:

IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1453405/