One of the greatest movies I've ever watched

Rating: 9/10 (23 July 2013)

This is definitely one of my favourite movies, with its catchy plot and extremely deep characters that can entertain anyone.
We all know that the prequel was extremely successful and highly rated, so I was obviously hoping for a dignifying sequel, but more than that, I was afraid. Monsters Inc was my childhood along with Bug Life, and with this wave of making a second or third movie that is only successful because of the first one, I feared Monsters University might ruin all that Mike and Sully meant for me, because maybe it would be just a commercial film. I am so glad to have been surprised.
While the idea of a movie being set in a university is no big news, the fact that these are monsters and their differences go far beyond personality makes it a whole new story. Yet, more than that, the movie shows how one's personality can affect their appearance or vice-versa. Obviously, there are the bullies and the bullied, but instead of merely portraying a reality, it brings a message: don't change to be successful or to be accepted, your uniqueness is what will lead you to happiness. Embrace what you have in you that makes you different and turn it into your strength.
I admit to not remembering Monsters Inc. in detail, for I haven't watched it in a long, long time, but I still had notions of what their futures would be, so their past... Well, it was simply deduction, right? No.
Characters who hated each other in the first movie were, at the beginning of Monsters University, portrayed as, if not friends, in amicable terms, but also mutatis mutandis. So we would obviously expect some big deed from them that would completely change the other's opinion, but it's not in that direct attack fashion that relationships flow. The feelings each character develops for the other is subtly incited, something I don't remember noticing in many productions; relations go smoothly and accompany each character's development.
Talking about development, it is great to see that Monsters University also shows how two completely different past realities can converge in the same present or future one, because coming from success doesn't mean you'll succeed and having all the odds against you doesn't mean you will fail, it only depends on your capacity of adaptation; it makes us see beyond mere titles and believe we can overcome expectations when we least expect it. But I'm not going much more into this, otherwise I will fail in avoiding spoilers.
However, what I liked best is the lack of predictability in crucial moments. While there are some typical moves such as "rejecting the popular boys because they rejected you", at some points the movie made you believe that it would follow a course of action that would be the only logical one considering its prequel, but then it gave you a completely different solution. (This refers mainly to the end, which was such a plot twist even though the fact that Monsters Inc had already established some facts gave it so little space to surprise the watchers.)
Monsters University made me laugh and brought tears to my eyes, it made me angry and hopeful, but more than anything, it reminded me of the little tips on how to be happy that we so often forget.