Monsters University (2013)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I'd seen Animal House before watching this one and it made me a little curious about college comedies. As a prequel to Monsters, Inc., it was not a typical one. Lots of color, weird and wonderful characters, a good story, and good for both kids and adults. The voices were good too. I can't think of a single bad thing in this film. At least there aren't any beer or drug jokes that might be a little much for the kiddies. It's also about the cliques and the endless wars between jocks and nerds. That makes a good college story, right? Forget the cliches, this works!

The question you have to ask yourself is "did we need a prequel to 'Monsters Inc'?". In my opinion no, but here we are anyway. Detailing how Mike and Sully met at university, they participate in the "Scare Games" in order to be taken forward in the "Scare Program". Not all is plain sailing though, Mike wishes to be a "Scarer" but ultimately is too cute for the job. It's a story about proving people wrong, proving yourself right and coming to terms with the realisation that dreams may not be necessarily fulfilled. Let's start with the good. John Goodman and Billy Crystal reprise their unique voice acting roles again, they are simply irreplaceable. The animation was vibrant, colourful and included a glossy aftereffect to enhance the youth of our characters. The story was engaging, although slightly unfocused, and moves along at a consistent pace. The inclusion of past characters will put a smile on faces albeit felt occasionally forced for the sake of fan service to the original. There is one scene that blew me away and that was the conversation between Mike and Sully in the human world by the lake. Monochrome filter, moody atmosphere, tense discussion...I felt it. The overwhelming realisation that Mike isn't scary, the script could've milked that scene into melodrama but instead it was kept light yet powerful. Maybe it's just me, I like me a good dark scene in a child-friendly animation. The problem with this film lies with its characters. What made 'Monsters Inc' so captivating was the dialogue between just two characters. In this we have far too many supporting monsters thrown into the fray which blurs the focus from Mike and Sully, the latter being sidelined to a supporting role. This story is purely focused on Mike, personally I think that was the wrong decision. It should've been balanced. There really was no antagonist, any threat or danger levels were completely omitted. It's a fine prequel, just feels unnecessary.

This is one the best Pixar Movies on the market for the simple reason that it has a GREAT plot. Mike enters collage and trys to be scary by doing lots of challenges in the Scare games and in the process makes a relationship with Sully, in my opinion the only thing that should change is when Sully cheated in the end thinking Mike was a actually scary, in my opinion it should have went a bit like this: Mike lets it all out and thinks about all the times in his life where he was insulted saying he was not scary and such and then wins the whole games thanks to it, not Sully cheating. But it has really shown us what the true meaning of friendship is. And this movie, let's say, "inspired" me to go to University because it looks fun, haha! Anyways, Pixar has caught my attention and has given me a decision of 9/10. Great job!

Monsters University is a prequel to the 2001 smash hit Monsters Inc and tells the tale of Mike Wasoski(voiced by Billy Crystal)who dreams of going to Monsters University and become a scarier monster. But of course when he was a little monster,his other peers tell him that he will never be a scarier monster. Fast forward a few years later and Mike goes to Monsters University where he meets up with new monsters and he gets to meet up with his soon to be partner in crime James P Sullivan(better well known as Sully)voiced by John Goodman who is a bit of a show off at first. His father was a well know scarier monster back in the day and he wants to make his family proud. Meanwhile the school mistress voiced by Helen Mirren is giving Mike a tough time as she thinks that Mike isn't good enough and shouldn't be going to this university.So will Mike prove them all wrong and to become a scarier monster in the end?Overall i thought this film was enjoyable. Is it as good as the original; well no its not as you can never beat the original movies(well except Cinderella and The Jungle Book I love the live action ones off theses cartoons).But back to Monsters University. The animation is nice,the characters are engaging and it was great to see Billy Crystal and John Goodman back as their characters again.7/10Good