Release Date: July 12th 2013
A look at the relationship between Mike and Sulley during their days at Monsters University -- when they weren't necessarily the best of friends.
Director: Dan Scanlon
Starring: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Charlie Day
Monster University is a daring and risky film from Pixar. It's widely known that Disney's past experiences of sequels have been an all round mixed bag. It's almost as if Disney are struggling to come up with new, innovative ideas. Thankfully Monsters University pays off because it's still as fun and loving as its predecessor (Monster Inc. was released 13 years ago).
A great deal of thought and detail has gone in to the making of this film. Forsaking the corporation in Inc for education, we're taken back to when Mike (Crystal) and Sulley (Goodman) first met. It introduces a whole new generation of children that will grow to love these characters. MU starts off as Inc. finishes; on the scare floor, but this time round, Mike Wazowski is on a school trip. Bullied by his classmates and unable to see what's happening due to his tiny complexion, he does what no other kid has done before, enter the human world. The outcome is his desire to be a scarer.
Jump forward in time and Mike is beginning his major at Monsters University. When Mike meets Sulley, it's opposites collide; Mike is a nerdy student working hard but Sully is a 'wing it' kind of monster. Monster University is about their relationship and how they go from enemies to best friends.
In order to pass their finals they need to impress the highly intimidating Dean Hardscrabble (voiced by the impeccable Dame Helen Mirren). Hardscrabble is one of the many stereotypes that MU has, from frat boys to popular girls and the nerdy outcasts. Mike and Sulley are forced to join Oozma Kappa, one of the six fraternities competing in the Scare Games. They need to learn how to work as a team, and not just compete against each other if they want to win.
Monsters University made over $743m at the box office. There may be a small selection of people that complain about film companies making (too many) sequels, but the majority must be enjoying them because the BO takings reflect this. It may be aimed at a younger audience, but it contains adult humour as well. The pace is consistent, all the gags are in the right place and Mike and Sulley are the coolest animated characters out there (well, maybe next to the minions). U-rated films can be as entertaining (if not better) as PG's or 18's, given the right formula.
Overview: Monster Inc. was so revolutionary that it's impossible for University to better it. What it does do though is keep the rhythm of Inc. going by adding fresh faces and the conflict between the two main characters, plus we get to see more Monstropolis.
I watched this last night and really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteI would have given it a 4/5 though, and here's why. The film has too many characters! It was hard to keep track of all the new faces in this film, from the underwritten characters in OK to the rival fraternity members ROR, it felt like we never really had a chance to pause and find out some more about these characters due to the very fast pace of the plot line.
The games were the highlights of the film for me, and I agree that it was great to see more of Monstropolis.
This franchise is screaming out for a cartoon series, but can't afford to risk the lower budgets involved. I hope Pixar create a few shorts with Mike and Sully, as there's definitely a lot of scope for more stories with Monsters.