Hey everybody and here I am finally with a brand new Pixar review! The last time we did one of these we looked at what I considered my least favorite movie from the studio, Brave, but even then I still really like that movie. Still it was considered a creative disappointment by a number of people and it continued the whole “is Pixar getting bad narrative?” that was common back then and is arguably still getting thrown around today. Not helping matters is that their next film would end up being being another franchise extension that people seemingly thought was unnecessary in the form of a prequel to one of their earliest hits, Monsters Inc. So once it came out it was unsurprisingly a smash at the box office, yet it was met with a pretty indifferent reaction from fans as most just found it average and it is considered among the lesser films in their catalogue. Once again I have to respectfully disagree with this consensus as I’ve always really enjoyed Monsters University and it’s actually a film I’ve come to appreciate more and more over time. As for why, well let’s go and meet up with our favorite monsters during their college years and see how this prequel was able to justify itself in my eyes.
We start off meeting a young Mike Wazowski who wants nothing more than to be a Scarer ever since an elementary school field trip to Monsters, Incorporated, despite his lack of a frightening appearance. Still after 11 years of hard work, he is able to enroll into the college of his dreams, Monsters University, as a first year scare major. Things seem to be looking up for him as he finally has the chance to follow his dream… until he meets one James P. Sullivan, a fellow student who comes from a long line of Scarers, yet is also something of a careless delinquent who is more concerned with joining a popular fraternity than actually working hard. The two come to form a huge rivalry between one another which leads to an incident that leads to both of them being kicked out of the scare program by Dean Abigail Hardscrabble. Wanting to prove himself, Mike decides to enter in the Scare Games, a competition that pits the fraternities against one another to see who are the best Scarers, and he makes a deal with Hardscrabble that if he wins then he will be reinstated into the program, but if he loses then he will leave the university. Seeing this as an opportunity, Sulley joins Mike and his fraternity team called Oozma Kappa much to Mike’s reluctance. Problem is Oozma Kappa aren’t exactly good Scarers so it’s up to Mike and Sulley to work together to train them so they can win the Scare Games and prove Hardscrabble wrong.
As mentioned before, quite a few people shrug this one off as being an unnecessary franchise extension, but I honestly think that Dan Scanlon and the writing team were able to make a worthwhile movie that works as a prequel to Monster Inc. one that I feel adds to that movie in certain ways while also being an very fun and enjoyable movie on it’s own terms at the same time. It has many fun callbacks and connections to the original that were cleverly thrown into the story and it does a good job in showing Mike and Sulley before they became friends and how they would end up where they were in Inc. Adding to that it was also nice to see more of the Monster world as this is a universe that is ripe for more exploration and I feel we get that here. We get to see what a Monster college would look like, how it would function, and how college life would be like for the monsters and it made for some fun world building as well making for some creative visuals. It’s also kind of neat that the creative team was able to make a college movie without many of the more adult tropes that would be present in those types of films (drinking, smoking, etc.) and it kind of serves as a nice college movie for families in that sense. Plus the comedy is really strong with plenty of fun jokes and gags that take advantage of the setting. The main storyline regarding the Scare games and Mike and Sulley learning to work together to train the underdog team while familiar, I think works well as I remained invested in seeing them succeed and I liked how they were developed as the movie went along. Admittedly, like Scanlon’s other Pixar feature, Onward, the first act can be pretty uneven as it can feel a bit rushed with setting up the conflicts and characters but like that suburban fantasy it finds it’s footing soon after and it maintains it’s momentum for the rest of the movie right up to the surprising third act which I feel fires on all cylinders. Not only does it have some really intense sequences and great character beats (like the lake scene) but it also manages to subvert certain expectations and convey it’s message excellently regarding how things are not always going to go how you’d like them to in life and you may not achieve the dreams you want to achieve but it’s okay to fail and the key is to keep moving forward and find something that you will succeed at. Not a message that is conveyed often in family movies and I thought it resonated deeply here and was excellently executed. An important theme and one that helps make this movie as strong as it is as well as the other positives I just mentioned.
I’ve always found Monsters Inc. to be a visually creative film with the way it show cases the monster world and Monsters University is no different in that respect. Like every other Pixar movie the animation is a treat for the eyes and it does a wonderful job in capturing the world that writers have come up with. Of course the quality has improved ever since the original so stuff like the rendering, lighting, backgrounds etc. look even better showing just how far the technology has come (I mean heck the original still holds up in a technical sense to this day) and the colors just pop out a good bit more here. Once again a big highlight are the character designs as we get to see all sorts of monsters with different sets of abilities and not one looks the same in a single shot. They all have visually appealing looks that compliment each respective characters personalities nicely (Hardscrabble and the Oozma Kappa gang being the stand outs in this regard) with the same applying to their movements. The backgrounds have a photo realistic look to them (especially the forest in the human world in the third act), but I like some of the little details regarding some of the architecture that gives them a monster touch. Helping matters is Scanlon who is able to do a great job with some of the sequences as I like how the Scare games are staged as each game can be genuinely exciting (the final game is legitimately intense) and sometimes hilarious (the whole obstacle course with the urchins never ceases to make me laugh out loud). Of course there’s also the cabin sequence which is a really well done and effective scene where Mike and Sulley have to pull off the greatest scare that has ever been done and I think it lives up to that. It’s easy to see how he got the chance to direct his own original feature as he really did a great job with an established property. Another thing I’ll briefly mention is Randy Newman’s painfully underrated score for this one as maintains the jazzy composition for Inc. while also standing out on it’s own for this movie at the same time. Monsters Inc. was already a really well made movie and Monsters University follows in those footsteps nicely.
For me, Mike and Sulley are among my favorite buddy pairings in any movie as they just make for a great team with Billy Crystal and John Goodman having perfect chemistry with one another and bringing a lot of personality to their roles. While their both technically the leads Mike gets the focus this time around as we see him as an intelligent and determined, yet also at times stubborn and sarcastic individual who wants nothing more than to be a Scarer even though he’s really not all that scary. I found his arc to be compelling as he is a relatable and sympathetic character who grows throughout the movie and I especially like how it tied into the message and the pay offs that occur in the climax. That doesn’t mean that Sulley gets the short shift as while he starts off as reckless and full of himself, forming a heated rivalry with Mike he eventually comes to grow as a result of working with Mike and the Oozma Kappa team becoming more confident in himself and a better person as deep down he is just as terrified of failure as Mike but one who comes to do anything to help his newfound friend out. I loved seeing their friendship form and in some ways it makes Monster Inc. even better as (spoilers) while they weren’t able keep their positions at the university they would still go on to change the Monster world for the better making the events that would later transpire all the more satisfying. Goes to show what a good prequel can do. As for the rest of Oozma Kappa, I think they make for a really fun and likable set of monsters with each having a distinct personality like the mature student, Don Carlton (Joel Murray), the two headed, one calm, one energetic, brothers, Terri (Sean Hayes), and Terry (Dave Foley), the out there hippie, Art (Charlie Day), and the shy one who lives with his supportive and hilarious mother (voiced by Julia Sweeney), Squishy (future Pixar director, Peter Sohn). I really liked seeing them interact with one another as they make a great team that I like rooting for and each get their moment to shine as Mike brings out the strength they have inside of them to be Scarers. If there is one character who many felt was underutilized though it would have to be Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi) Sulley’s future rival and yeah I guess that aspect could have been fleshed out more considering how big of a character he is in the original, but I thought it was interesting how he was Mike’s original, nerdy roommate and how as always he turns out to be a slimeball like is in the future. Speaking of slimeball there’s Johnny Worthington III, the leader of ROR, the most powerful fraternity in the school and he is a pretty one note self absorbed bully who gives OK a hard time, but he serves his purpose well enough and Nathan Fillion is really good in this particular role. Meanwhile all the other fraternities while not given much to do except compete in the Scare games manage to stand out due to how distinct they all are in terms of designs and personalities and I thought Tyler Labine and Aubrey Plaza were very entertaining in their small yet comical roles as Brock and Claire, the commentators of the Scare Games. Then there is what could be the main antagonist of the feature (even though she’s not outright malicious or villainous) but more in a way similar to Ratatouille’s Anton Ego, Dean Hardscrabble. Aside from her awesome design that mixes a cock roach and a dragon, I really like what was done with her as she is a very strict authority figure who does not accept failure in her program, but is one who is fair and can even show a bit of kindness and sympathy. She doubts Mike’s ability to be scary, but he ends up surprising her in the end leading her to change so that she can accept more “surprises” into her program and like I said before him and Sulley continued to “surprise” people (that scene with her, Mike, and Sulley at the end is one of my favorites of the film). I just found her to be a really strong antagonist whose not really one with the iconic Helen Mirren cast perfectly in the role capturing her soft spoken yet intimidating demeanor. In all the movie is filled with memorable characters that work in different ways and again I am impressed at how the movie was able to somehow complete Mike and Sulley’s arcs and make them even more well rounded.
In the end, I’ve come to appreciate Monsters University even more over time as I find it to be a great and worthwhile prequel to one of my favorite comedies. Certain issues aside (the uneven first act, Randall given a bit more depth, and some one not characters) I think it does a nice job in showing how Mike and Sulley met, it adds to their character arcs, the underdog plotline is investing, the third act knocks it out of the park, the message is incredibly well handled, it’s full of creativity in terms of building the Monster world, the animation is great once again, and most of the side characters work really well in different ways. It makes the original even better in my eyes while also just being a really enjoyable and compelling movie in it’s own right, one that I love watching whenever I have the chance. There’s just a lot that I love here and I find it to be a greatly underappreciated entry as it is what I consider a prequel done right. Scanlon really had a very solid directorial start and this and Onward make me excited to see what he does next. It’s also great to see the Monsters coming back into the spotlight with the new Monster At Work show as this is a franchise and world that has plenty of potential for more projects and I’m glad to see that happening. Anyway that’s about it for MU and now it is time to get ready for next time as we will be witnessing the inner workings of the human mind and see just what our emotions look like.
Rating: A-
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