When I heard that the latest film from Pixar Animation
Studios (the creators of Toy Story and, Up) was a prequel to Monsters
Inc., I scoffed. The original film was an early Pixar work, and it was
clever and funny, but a touch formulaic. Considering
the disaster of Cars 2, a worse
sequel to a mediocre film, my hopes for Monsters
University were on the floor. Despite my hesitation, I was pleasantly
surprised by the film. Monsters
University is wildly funny, full of heart, and far less predictable than
the first film.
Like Cars 2, this prequel stars the first film’s breakout character, as opposed
to the lead. The reason that works here, and not in Cars 2, is that Billy Chrystal has 20 times more charisma and charm
than Larry the Cable Guy. In this film,
Mike is attending Monsters University, hoping to be a top scarer. Mike has studied very hard about how to scare
children, but he himself is just not scary.
This simple fact about him gets him laughed at and rejected by the jocks
(the main jock played by Nathan Fillian), as well as the Dean (Helen Miren). We
know from this first movie that Mike
does not achieve his goal of becoming a scarer, but the reason the film doesn’t
end up with a negative message is that Mike is always so positive and happy
with himself.
As far as plot, the film is a spoof
of classic college movies like Revenge of
the Nerds and Animal House. The film revolves around Mike meeting
Sully (John Goodman) and the difficult start to their relationship. Because Sully is naturally scary, (he even
comes from a family of scarers), he slacks off and at one pint hangs out with
the jocks. This leads to tension with hardworking Mike. Eventually, the two start to bond over a
series of Greek games which pit them
and several nerds against the jocks. You
may think you know this kind of plot, but the direction the film takes with it
is more creative than you may imagine.
All the new monsters in this film are well
designed and individually entertaining. While many of them are archetypes, they
interact well off Mike and Sully, and the actors give good performances. One element I should elaborate on is that this
film is hysterical. Mike and Sully meet a fraternity of nerds, (including Dave Foley
and Joel Murray) all of whom are hilarious.
And there are plenty of great gags that involve them.
Monsters
University is full of great character moments, lots of laughs, and has a
story that is more engaging and less predictable than that of the first one.
This movie was a pleasant surprise for me, and it may be the same for you.
