My Movie Review on Monsters University · 5:03pm Oct 26th, 2020
Yo, what's up, Kemosabes?
This is your friendly film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, for the ninth installment of my "Spook Spectacular" series, I'm gonna give you guys my take of Pixar's "Monsters University".
Here's the rundown of this prequel of "Monsters Inc.":
Mike Wazowski is a young monster who deeply dreams of becoming a scarer, so he decides to enroll at a college called Monsters University. As he continually works hard to prove that he's the scariest monster ever, he runs into quite a challenging competitor: James P. Sullivan.
After both Mike and Sulley fail to show Dean Abigail Hardscrabbler that they're qualified to be scarers, though, she bans them from the scare program. That is, until Mikes makes a bet with Hardscrabble. The bet being that if he and a group of monsters called the Oozma-Kappa win the Scare Games, Hardscrabble will let him back in the program. But, if he and his team lose, Mike will be forced to leave Monsters University. Reluctantly, Mike lets Sulley join the team in order to have the amount of members be an even six in total.
Will team Oozma-Kappa overcome the odds and win the games? Or not?
Not gonna lie, I had originally intended on seeing this movie last year not long after reviewing "Monsters Inc.". Due to time going by so fast, though, I decided to save it for this year instead.
Coming from a guy who saw this movie for the very first time recently, the one thing I will admit is that many of the jokes didn't land as well as I had hoped. As a matter of fact, there were gags in the movie that were either unnecessary or flatly executed.
Other than that...as with all the other Pixar films I've reviewed, I thought that this film was an absolute winner.
For instance, the direction by Dan Scanlon, and the story and screenplay by him, Dan Gerson, and Robert L. Baird, were fantastic.
Yes, I know that I said that there were some comedy gags that didn't impress me. But, there were also several jokes that had me laughing my socks off, such as the ones during the library scene. Plus, the film contained surprisingly genuine emotion and heart that helped it be so alive, and there were great morals to live by. The concept of a college was something that I found to be deeply original for an animated film, even if the college is one where monsters go to practice being scary. The film as a whole worked perfectly as an origin story for Mike and Sulley, and while it did feel strange to see the monsters practicing to scare human children considering they later found in "Monsters Inc." that making them laugh was better, the film nevertheless served as a great prequel. I also enjoyed the winks and hints of nostalgia to "Monsters Inc.".
The animation for this movie was likewise amazing.
As the very first movie where global illumination was used and the animation was created using different technology compared to "Monsters Inc.", I thought everything came out splendidly. It was astonishing how faithful the visual style was to "Monsters Inc." while still being its own at the same time, and it carried a great comic book sort of feel and look too.
The music by Randy Newman was marvelous, if I may add.
He may not have created one of his strongest works out of all his collaborations with Pixar, but Newman’s score still helped the film feel as alive as a beating heart. The melodies flawlessly reflected the emotions of the characters and the genuine feeling put into the story too.
Finally, the vocal performances, casting, characters, and character development were brilliant.
Returning to their roles after over a decade since the last movie, Billy Crystal, John Goodman, and Steve Buscemi literally killed it with their portrayals of Mike, Sulley, and Randall. The three characters themselves had dynamic development that brilliantly built them up for the first movie. Plus, the Oozma Kappa characters were fun to hang with, and Peter Sohn, Joel Murray, Sean Hayes, Dave Foley, and Charlie Day portrayed their characters perfectly. I'd also like to add that Helen Mirren portrayed the character of Dean Abigail Hardscrabble with stunning style, and the character developed in more ways than I expected.
In conclusion, "Monsters University" isn't what I'd classify as a flawless Pixar film nor one the company's best works, but it's still an enjoyable and worthwhile movie that's loads of fun to watch.
So, I rate "Monsters University" 4½ out of 5 stars.
What makes this film unique is that the main character doesn't get what he always wanted in the end.
Mike deserved his dream of being a Scarer, but its not what he's built for.
I know that sounds like the most cruel insult to the concept of dreaming and perseverance, but sometimes the little engine can try, but in the end, it can't.
I guess the main moral of this story is 'dream big, but know your limits.'
I got a couple of movies you can check out for any Halloween reviews you might do.
To me, I didn't like that movie because the animation isn't as good as the original and remember what Mike said in Monsters' Inc?
But in Monsters University, it shows that wasn't the case.
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I read that the director and writing team had been taking that into account tons of times, but later decided to retcon the line as an expression monsters say to one another in order to do what’s best for the story.
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That explains that.
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Yay. They did plan on doing a movie where Mike and Sulley meet during their Elementary years to accommodate the line, but apparently things weren’t working out. The concept of them meeting in their college years apparently seemed to work better for the team.
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What movies are your interested in recommending to me for next Halloween?
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Ouija, Ouija: Origin of Evil, and The Thing (1982) (if you haven't reviewed that film already).
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Actually, I’ve never even heard of those films. But, I’ll take them to mind for next Halloween.