Monsters University (2013)

Monsters University (2013)

6/10

Starring the voice of

Billy Crystal

John Goodman

Steve Buscemi

Directed by Dan Scanlon

This has been a much-awaited sequel to the classic animation Monsters, Inc. (2001). As a matter of fact, I’ve long waited to see Pixar do something after that mess of a movie, Cars 2 (2011).

I have to tell you, after getting over the nearly irritating scene of the guys all swelling up, this movie was filled with enough razzmatazz to keep you glued to the very end, thanks to the very entertaining voice cast. But the originality of the first—which includes the emotional tension buildup of how Sulley and Mike were going to deal with the whole “child in the monster world” issue—isn’t there. Monsters University has no tense emotional scenes. Furthermore, the way the director managed the crossover between the human world and the monster world was best done in the first. Here, it seemed the characters were too comfortable crossing to the other side. I felt this movie, deviated from the idea of the first movie, in regarding dealing with the human world, which really annoyed me.

Also, there’s a continuity issue concerning how these two met. In Monsters, Inc., Mike says that Sulley had been jealous of his looks since the fourth grade, but in Monsters University, we see them meet for the first time at college, this creates a bit of a contradiction in their backstory.

Here’s the first twist in the movie: Mike and Sulley were actually rivals. They met at the university, both aiming to graduate as top scarers. But Sulley had the whole presence and roaring going for him, while Mike only had books. So, it was brains vs. brawn—but that battle didn’t last long, as both got themselves into some trouble that almost had them kicked out of the university. Instead, they got kicked out of the scare course. Mike then boldly suggested to Dean Hardscrabble (who wanted both Mike and Sulley out of the university) that if they entered the Scare Games (a competition where fraternities in the university compete to see which is the top scarer) and won, she would allow them back into the scare class. But if they lost, she’d get her wish of kicking them both out of the university.

From here, I know many of you will think you have the ending pegged, but trust me, you have no idea how it will go. The movie has predictable moments, but for me the ending was not one of them.

The movie’s final twist is what crowned it for me. It ended with picture clips showing us how Mike and Sulley rose through the ranks at Monsters University and became the top scarers we know them as in Monsters, Inc.
Monsters University is a nice comeback for Pixar and Disney after Cars 2, but it’s not as special as the first or as classy as Toy Story 3 (2010). Still, it’s worth the watch.