Monsters University
Year: 2013
Director: Dan Scanlon
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Billy Crystal, John Goodman & Helen Mirren
Runtime: 104 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 13/03/23
Director: Dan Scanlon
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Billy Crystal, John Goodman & Helen Mirren
Runtime: 104 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 13/03/23
Following the success of Monsters Inc. in 2001, Disney wanted a sequel. Because of their agreement with Pixar, and Pixar’s reluctance to make one, the project was handed off to Disney’s Circle7 studio whom had recently been retired from the direct-to-video Toy Story 2. The project would languish in development hell for years, but with Disney’s acquisition of Pixar in 2006 the project was passed back to them and they were to produce a sequel, like it or not.
Scrapping every idea that came before, if Pixar were going to have to make Monsters Inc. 2 then it was going to be on their terms.
The project finally saw the light of day in 2013, not as a sequel, but a prequel, Monsters University. But does Pixar’s reluctance to make it run off on the final product?
Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) has always wanted to be a scared at Monsters Inc. and now he’s a student at the prestigious Monsters University he finally has the opportunity to fulfil his dream…but he has one problem, he’s not scary.
Developing a rivalry with James Sullivan (John Goodman), a talented classmate who believes his family legacy will be enough to get him through his exams, the pair inadvertently get themselves kicked off the scaring course.
Determined to earn his place back, Mike enters himself in the Oozma Kappa fraternity to compete in the scare games, wagering against Dead Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) that he will be able to win or sacrifice his place at the university. Seeing a possible route back onto the scaring program, Sullivan joins him and the two must learn to work together or face expulsion.
Scrapping every idea that came before, if Pixar were going to have to make Monsters Inc. 2 then it was going to be on their terms.
The project finally saw the light of day in 2013, not as a sequel, but a prequel, Monsters University. But does Pixar’s reluctance to make it run off on the final product?
Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) has always wanted to be a scared at Monsters Inc. and now he’s a student at the prestigious Monsters University he finally has the opportunity to fulfil his dream…but he has one problem, he’s not scary.
Developing a rivalry with James Sullivan (John Goodman), a talented classmate who believes his family legacy will be enough to get him through his exams, the pair inadvertently get themselves kicked off the scaring course.
Determined to earn his place back, Mike enters himself in the Oozma Kappa fraternity to compete in the scare games, wagering against Dead Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) that he will be able to win or sacrifice his place at the university. Seeing a possible route back onto the scaring program, Sullivan joins him and the two must learn to work together or face expulsion.
Monsters University is generally by the numbers. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t live up to the typical pedigree of a Pixar film, similar to the first Cars film. It’s fairly obvious that Monsters Inc. had no room to grow as a franchise, not meaningfully anyway, and whilst University does its best to expand the property in interesting ways, it simply fails to do anything particularly interesting with the premise.
This is a by the book underdog story. The little guy taking on the establishment, odds stacked against them, and a tale of dedication being the ultimate reward. If you’ve seen any film like that before then you know how Monsters University will pan out right down to the minutiae. The spin is that this is set in a college, so it’s also a college comedy, the only problem is that because this is a family friendly film it doesn’t actually contain any of the raunchy material that make college comedies funny.
Monsters University is funny, but in the way that family animated films normally are, and few of those gags feel appropriate in the setting of a college. There’s no reference to drinking, drugs, sex, or anything that’s criminal which is exactly what you want from a family friendly film, but that’s everything that makes college comedies entertaining…seeing young people do dumb and irresponsible things and grow from it.
There’s a lot of callbacks and setup to things from the original film, some work and some don’t. For example, Mike and Sully meeting in college doesn’t work because it goes against what Monsters Inc. establishes in that they’ve known each other since elementary school…but it does give a wink and a nudge to establishing the rivalry the pair would go on to have with the first film’s antagonist, Randall (Steve Buscemi).
There’s a number of other things but they often feel more like in-jokes rather than something that adds to the story or characters.
This is a by the book underdog story. The little guy taking on the establishment, odds stacked against them, and a tale of dedication being the ultimate reward. If you’ve seen any film like that before then you know how Monsters University will pan out right down to the minutiae. The spin is that this is set in a college, so it’s also a college comedy, the only problem is that because this is a family friendly film it doesn’t actually contain any of the raunchy material that make college comedies funny.
Monsters University is funny, but in the way that family animated films normally are, and few of those gags feel appropriate in the setting of a college. There’s no reference to drinking, drugs, sex, or anything that’s criminal which is exactly what you want from a family friendly film, but that’s everything that makes college comedies entertaining…seeing young people do dumb and irresponsible things and grow from it.
There’s a lot of callbacks and setup to things from the original film, some work and some don’t. For example, Mike and Sully meeting in college doesn’t work because it goes against what Monsters Inc. establishes in that they’ve known each other since elementary school…but it does give a wink and a nudge to establishing the rivalry the pair would go on to have with the first film’s antagonist, Randall (Steve Buscemi).
There’s a number of other things but they often feel more like in-jokes rather than something that adds to the story or characters.
Visually Monsters University is a mixed bag too. For the most part the film looks fine but it lacks the added detail seen in Pixar’s previous film, Brave, which is a shame seeing as this is the second film to use their at the time new animation software.
Character modes have a lot more movement points than ever before and because of the wide range of character designs it is interesting to see how they move through the world. Fur also looks decent thanks to the new engine, but skin and scales generally look a bit texture-less.
There is one scene that really stands out in Monsters University though and that’s the Summer Camp Cabin sequence. We get to see Pixar put their all into their new lighting and particle effects, particularly fog and torchlight. It looks amazing, and it’s curious as to why the rest of the film doesn’t look as high quality.
Monsters University is fun entertainment for the whole family. It’s easy watching, the kids will laugh, and it does develop the characters in more interesting ways than its predecessor ever did. But it fails to stand out in the genre it occupies, and it doesn’t look as technologically impressive as some of the other Pixar films that released shortly before it. It’s good enough to occupy an hour and forty minutes of your time, but it’s unlikely to be a film you’ll be desperate to revisit again and again.
Character modes have a lot more movement points than ever before and because of the wide range of character designs it is interesting to see how they move through the world. Fur also looks decent thanks to the new engine, but skin and scales generally look a bit texture-less.
There is one scene that really stands out in Monsters University though and that’s the Summer Camp Cabin sequence. We get to see Pixar put their all into their new lighting and particle effects, particularly fog and torchlight. It looks amazing, and it’s curious as to why the rest of the film doesn’t look as high quality.
Monsters University is fun entertainment for the whole family. It’s easy watching, the kids will laugh, and it does develop the characters in more interesting ways than its predecessor ever did. But it fails to stand out in the genre it occupies, and it doesn’t look as technologically impressive as some of the other Pixar films that released shortly before it. It’s good enough to occupy an hour and forty minutes of your time, but it’s unlikely to be a film you’ll be desperate to revisit again and again.