Monster's University Review

Rating: 8/10 (20 July 2013)

Monsters Inc. (2001) a beautifully crafted tale about the magical monster world (Montropolis) and its electrical conglomerate cooperation monsters incorporated. This Disney and Pixar creation , has finally had its much awaited follow-up movie, however in an unconventional twist Disney decided to make it a prequel.
The original Monsters Inc. followed the story of monsters incorporated the city's electrical company where electricity was generated by children's scream. Collected by fully trained scarers who would enter the human world through children's closets and scare them as they sleep. The main characters included top scarer James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) and his trusty one-eyed sidekick Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), and not forgetting a classic Disney villain Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi), all of which feature in the new Monster's University.
Being Pixar's first ever prequel, Monsters University had a lot to prove, and did it deliver?
Working back from the original movie, monster's university takes a look at how Mike and 'Sully' became quite the scaring duo and why Randall becomes obsessed with beating the all time scare record. The opening scene takes you to Mike's school field trip to the Monster Incorporated building where he meets Frank one of the companies best scarer's and an Alma Marta of the Monster's University. Following a sequence of events Frank is in awe by little six-year-old Mike Wazowski and gives him is "MU" cap which ultimately drives Mike to his goal of entering into the scare program at MU. From then on, we meet a number of new and old characters (including the original Sully and Randall) who all play an important role in the shaping of the characters we all know and love. Without giving too much away the movie focuses on a scare competition between the different fraternities and sororities at the university. In a funny turn Mike and Sully are members of the Oozma Kappa (OK) brotherhood, a rather unpopular fraternity who undoubtedly have a lot to gain from winning the university scare games but with fairly little to lose. The movie takes you on the ups and downs of (monster) university life and the fraternities, friendship and woes that come with it. The creators have cleverly rejuvenated the characters giving Sully a slightly younger haircut, Mike a metal retainer and Randall a complete personality change from confident and mean to a nerdy unpopular monster who wears glasses.
The movie although arguably slightly on the longer side, proved worthy of the Disney and Pixar name. Once again delivering scares, laughs and that heart warming feeling, it is a movie the whole family can truly enjoy, it is a must see!
The Pros and Cons
Pros
Helen Mirren voice to the Dean of Monster's University and chair of the scare program makes a wonderful addition to the Monster's Cast.
Successfully undergoes the role of prequel - as it is not necessary to have seen Monsters Inc. (which is lucky due to the 12 years between the two movies).
As with every Disney movie, it comes with a number of heart warming messages - to mention a few: the value of friendship, the importance of working hard and ultimately the acceptance of others.
By far the best trick played by the creators in this movie is the many hidden cameos.
Cons
Although only 1hr and 35mins long, after the first 1hr the movie feels a little sluggish, no fault of the storyline just a simple truth that seems to affect all movies nowadays.
With a few jokes here and there no phrases or comments seemed to stick to mind as well as the originals, such as "Kitty", "Put that thing back where it came from or so help me...", and "Mike Wazowski"(said in little Boo's voice).
A wonderful movie, but we all want to know what happened to Boo. And hoping for a Monsters Inc. 2 is an understatement, I am praying for one.
4 STARS ****
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