Pixar Will Always Be Pixar

Rating: 8/10 (2 August 2013)

Monsters University is about how Mike and Sully grew from the biggest of rivals to the best of friends in college. I'm not gonna go too much into the story, because it's more fun to experience for yourself.
Pixar may not have had the best of luck with their more recent films (that is starting with 2011 up till now), but I noticed something while watching Monsters University: The feeling of déjà vu that I also had when watching Brave and even Cars 2. No matter how thin the story is or how uninteresting the characters are, Pixar will always be in a league of their own.
That said, how was Monsters University? Well, it's the prequel to Monsters, Inc., which was released 12 years ago. I loved that movie as a small kid, and ... well, I still do to this day. This movie was originally planned as a sequel to Monsters, Inc., but was eventually titled Monsters University and announced as a prequel instead. I was skeptical to this, but I can say without a doubt that Pixar are starting to return back to their former glory.
Monsters University isn't amazing like Ratatouille, Up and the Toy Story trilogy, but it almost is. Let me explain...
The movie starts off very standard. Nothing too special. Some laughs here and there, but there isn't much promise or build-up to anything intense. Then the story starts twisting and turning a little bit, and eventually builds up into one of Pixar's most exciting movies. The climax of this movie is very thrilling and you really get into it.
The animation is brilliant, as always. Pixar has always been the master of textures. Every texture in this movie looks photo-realistic. However, Pixar's talent in textures and animation in general is not really shown in Monsters University itself, but rather a little short film at the start called The Blue Umbrella, which looks real, period.
The character development is very good. The movie starts out with a bunch of not-so-interesting nor likable characters, that eventually grow into characters you really root for. The relationship between Mike and Sully is very impressive, as they start off completely hating each other, but their friendship grows so naturally. Seriously, there's never a sudden change of heart in any of the characters.
Overall, I really enjoyed Monsters University. It's very funny, very exciting, has likable characters, beautiful animation, great fan service for fans of Monsters, Inc., and it has some touching moments during the last part. I'm certain Pixar will return back to their former greatness in just a year or two.