Managed to coast by because of the good will generated by Monsters Inc

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2013)

Some years ago my wife and I were honeymooning at Tokyo Disneyland. The Monsters Inc ride was one of our faves. She had a bright idea and bought the Monsters Inc popcorn container (without the popcorn). I remember asking her what she wanted that for. She says I have to wait to find out. When she came back home, she took out the strap, carefully put in a used plastic bag and wala... It became a mini trash bin. It now sits happily on our living room table and even has a blue helmet
We love Monsters Inc. It had an ingenious world and an inventive concept. The ending with Boo was heartrendingly poignant and sweet. Thank goodness Pixar didn't try to sequelize it because that ending can't be topped. Instead they made a good move to pre- quelize it, essentially to tell the story of how Mike and Sulley's friendship began.
The good thing about Monsters University is the familiarity with all the characters. Watching this feels like a warm fuzzy meeting with old friends. The Pixar staple visual and verbal gags are aplenty and executed with gusto. The Monsters world we all know. The difference here is that the main story occurs in the university where monsters learn their craft. This part also feels very familiar through watching all the American TV series and movies with their education establishments as the backdrop. The plot is also formulaic and familiar, like all those losers-finally-win scenarios. In short there is not much in MU that surprises me, unlike MI. But it's still an enjoyable movie.
I think one of the main problems stopping MU from reaching stratospheric levels for me is it's lack of pathos. It was breezy enough but nothing moved me till late in the third act when Mike discovered what Sulley did to make their fraternity win. For me the real Pixar movie began there but by then it was so late in the game the idea couldn't gain a lot of traction. I also like MI's antagonist Randall who actually has his beginning here but his character arc feels very thread bare to me. The message and themes are well presented - nobody is a nobody, teamwork and friendship, but it just lacks the pathos to hit you in the heart.
All in all MU is a good movie but not a great one. During supper my wife and I got talking and I asked her that since this is essentially a prequel, would watching MU without any knowledge of MI work in the movie's favour. She gave it a 5-second ponder and said nope. My thoughts exactly... MU managed to coast by because of the good will generated from the much beloved MI. Taken on its own MU is quite ordinary by Pixar's standards but IMHO Pixar has lost their cutting edge sometime back. For me their last great movie was Up.