An Unimpressive Letdown

Rating: 1/10 (30 June 2013)

What happened to the Pixar studios of Disney? Back then, they were churning out all the hits with the "Toys Story" series (and all three movies were terrific and never let us down), "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles," "Ratatouille," and "Up," to name a few. There has also been Pixar movies which were also hits, but disappointed me, such as "A Bug's Life," the two "Cars" movies, and "Wall-E." And I would like to advise that between "Monsters, Inc." and "Monsters University," please save your hard-earned cash in this recession, and continue to watch the former. The latter is a tedious example which cannot properly explain how Mike and Sully met, just a series of throwaway pieces and recycling of other college movies. This is supposed to be a prequel, but it is still nothing.
What made "Monsters, Inc." special is the budding friendship of Mike and Sully, and the message was that despite their monstrous exteriors, the guys have good hearts. But here in "Monsters University," Mike (Billy Crystal) is depicted as a twerpy nerd from his school days, and Sully (John Goodman) ignores Mike until they meet again at college. The two have to contend with the conniving Randall (Steve Buscemi), who in both movies, manipulates his way to the top. He gets to fit with the "cool" guys before becoming the top scarer at the Monsters factory, which Buscemi played better in the first film. They also have to contend with the usual stereotypes. Helen Mirren is perfectly cast as the crusty flying dragon Dean Hardscrabble, who, if the boys are not scary enough, they get thrown out of the university. This allows Mirren to parody her upper-crust, ever-so-proper, British stuffed- shirt that she plays so well over the years. Mirren does the best acting in the movie and tops both Crystal and Goodman. Then there are all the big guys on campus, the giggling, snooty sorority girls, the prim librarian, and no fraternity will accept them except for an underdog "nerd" fraternity called Oozma Kappa, aka OK, because they are the least intimidating.
Does this sound familiar? Yes, it does, if you grew up on watching the 1984 college comedy "Revenge of the Nerds", as I did. But today's children will not get the R-rated "Revenge of the Nerds," which played so hilariously the nice outsiders getting even with the mean athletes. There are also parodies of "Animal House" , including the opening collegiate music and the frat house parties. That can also be over a young child's head. Note that in "Monsters University," there are improper plays on fraternity alphabets such as ROR - Roar Omega Roar (which Randall is a part of because they roar nastily, not to mention that the Omegas were the antagonistic fraternity to the Deltas in "Animal House"), and OK (the most benign fraternity on the campus that is hated by the rest of the school until they find a way to win the Greek games). Also, the Greek games were integral in "Nerds," and three-quarters of "Monsters University" dominates the Greek games. Surely enough, OK wins the admiration of the whole school except Hardscrabble, still nobody's fool, and she eventually expels the Mike and Sully for cheating their way to the top and breaking and entering into a monster factory, as the guys continue to establish themselves. At least Mike is honest with himself and tries to help everyone, but Sully looks to cheat to win.
This movie wavers from recycling of raunchy classic college comedies, which is sensationally inappropriate for young audiences, to overcooked sentiment that tries to bleed our tears, but there were no laughs in the theater we saw it in and everyone walked out with dry eyes. I can remember sniffling out of "Toy Story 3" because the message was so well done in which as we get older, we have to give away our valuable possessions of toys.
I am definitely looking forward to seeing "Despicable Me 2." I really cannot wait to see this. Steve Carell has done everything to promote it, and whether he is a good movie, and occasionally, a bad movie, such as 2008's highly promoted but disappointing "Get Smart," Carell has the ability to overcome poor material with his strong performances. I recently watched "Despicable Me" on movies on demand, and my husband and I were "howling" when as Gru steals the moon, a werewolf stops howling and turns back into a man. That's funny stuff. "Monsters University" has turned out to be a warm-up for the supposedly greater creation, which I think will be "Despicable Me 2." This is not the first time a lousy animated movie precedes the greater one. I waited quite briefly for "Monsters University" today. However, with "Despicable Me 2," you shall be waiting on a long line for a long time this Fourth of July.