REVIEW: Monsters University

PLOT: A look at the relationship between Mike and Sulley during their days at Monsters University -- when they weren't necessarily the best of friends.

REVIEW: Monsters University was my first screening at the drive in the other night, previous to The Lone Ranger and thank the heavens for that or it would have been a horrible first night at the drive in theater. Now, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of the first film Monsters Inc. and I wouldn't consider it anywhere near one of my favorite Disney Pixar films. This one however is making me want to reconsider that stance, as Monsters University was just straight up fun for growns ups and the kiddies too. From beginning to end it was full of laughs and potential life lessons for the younger viewers to absorb and learn from. I was fairly well pleased with what I saw, and I can only imagine what kind of masterpiece I would have thought it was had I seen it after The Lone Ranger instead of before.

This story focuses a bit more on Mike Wazowski this time, as it's a tale of his dream to become a scarer after he gets out of school. The film starts with a young monster Mike getting a tour of the scare room where he is enamored by an MU alum who is a scarer, and tells Mike that he can be whatever he wants to be when he grows up, essentially. Thus, Wazowski gets his first taste of scaring and it isn't enough, and he sets off on his path to become the best scarer there ever was. As soon as Mike steps off the bus and takes a triumphant step onto the campus of MU, this movie is all around fun. I was worried about this film just not measuring up to the original, but part of me feels like it was perfectly on par. They nailed everything about this film, but the best part was the tremendous amount of heart they poured into the character of Mike. They very easily could have focused on Sulley, as he was everyone's favorite in the first one, and just settled to give the kids what they wanted. Instead Pixar took the harder road, in making Mike a more likable character this time around, and were entirely successful in achieving that because Mike was so hard not to like over Sulley this time around.

Sulley and some of the rest of the gang are back this time around too, as some familiar characters from Monsters Inc. make their appearances. Sulley however, we get the origin story for as well, and how he was born into scaring unlike Mike who had to work every bit of the way to get there. Sulley is kind of obnoxious in this movie, and his obvious charm from the first film is gone and replaced with a cocky and not as funny big blue monster. But part of that serves to tell a story, that being how Sulley became Mike's best friend and why he's no longer the jerk he was in college, and now he's the big lovable blue monster that everyone loved. I think it's so amazing they were able to create a story to give all of this more color and have Mike be more of a main character over Sulley. I figured this would be an origin story type movie, which I typically don't like, but it was very well done and I think it served its predecessor very well in the fact that I feel like I would appreciate it more now than I have in the past. Also, Randall Boggs makes a pretty big appearance in this film and he's not quite what you would expect from a young Boggs.

What's new with Monsters University though is a whole new crew of characters that range from adorable to antagonistic. The first one I'll mention is the fraternity leader of the biggest frat on campus that was voiced by Nathan Fillion, and serves as the movie's on screen villain. I think this is a character that only some will get into, but I really thought he was hilarious. I think some of that is due to the fact that Fillion's voice is just one of a kind and he makes the character seem all that much cooler with it, so it really suits the cool kid on campus character well. There's the rest of his crew, most of which are pea brained but occassionally funny. There's the villainous Dean of MU voiced by Helen Mirren, who isn't funny at all, but definitely a little creepy and is always lurking the background. Mike and Sulley end up teaming up with the fraternity of odd loser monsters for the campus' Scare Games and there are quite a few interesting characters in that group. One who is adorable and has arguably one of the film's best moments, is always sneaking up on Mike and seemingly within earshot of any conversation whether you know it or not. My favorite little monsters a purple little guy with long bowed legs and tiny T-Rex arms, but he had the attitude of your typical stoner, it's all good man. Plus an old guy with a bat mustache and tentacles, and I believe another monsters that escapes my memory at the moment. This group of random nobody monsters really creates an inspiring team of scarers that you root for from beginning to end.

There is plenty to love about Monsters University and it's yet another example of quality film from Disney Pixar. It may not have the biggest emotional impact out of most of their films, which Monsters Inc. didn't have either in my opinion, at least not in comparison to the other films, but this movie has a lot of heart. It's a really inspirational tale for children to see, and shows that if you put your mind to something, no matter how hard it may be and how impossible it may seem, your dreams can come true if you work hard and dedicate yourself to something. It also teaches that it doesn't matter what others think of you, it only matters what you think of yourself and it's just all around got a really good message for viewers out there, young or old really. I'd recommend this to anybody looking for a family flick this holiday weekend, but also to anyone just looking for something that will have you walking out of the theater smiling. But please for all that is holy, do not see The Lone Ranger, just go see this instead because it's monumentally better. Oh and by the way, the Pixar short at the beginning titled The Blue Umbrella was cute as usual, but the CGI was insanely impressive. I think we have bigger and better things to look forward to from Pixar, and a Marvel team up with the CGI I saw would be out of this world.

ACTING : ( 7 / 10 )
STORY : ( 8 / 10 )
EXECUTION : ( 7 / 10 )
POSTER : ( 5 / 10 )
AWESOME : ( 7 / 10 )
FINAL RATING : ( 7 / 10 )