Monsters University (2013)

Everyone always expects something unexpected from Pixar and that’s probably why a few people have been rough on their latest, Monsters University, the prequel to Monsters Inc. I think the criticism of the movie is off base and that like Toy Story 2 this film takes familiar characters and an established premise and generates a better story with much more effective humor.

 In a way this movie feels safely remote from Monsters Inc., it has little to do with it at all other than the fact that many of the same characters are involved and that they inhabit the same world....what we get is what I think is one of, if not the greatest, college comedies ever made. It’s been likened to Revenge of the Nerds or Animal House but I actually found this movie to be funnier and more enduring than either of those two movies. I can’t get into too many specifics because this movie is still new at the time of my writing this and I would only spoil the best jokes, so you’re just going to have to go see it for yourself!

So Mike is a cute-little monster who has a big dream of becoming a great scarer....and unfortunately it really is critical at this point, for appreciating this movie, that you have seen the original otherwise all this talk about scaring is a little bit convoluted and strange. Briefly, scaring human children (of our world) is how the monsters power their own civilization (somehow screams = energy) and the elite of monster society are those who have been chosen to do this job. Mike, however, is not among the elite but he works hard and enters the scaring program at the elite Monster University anyway. 

At school Mike meets Sully, his familiar best-friend, partner and the main character from the original movie (now the co-star) who, unlike Mike, has all of the attributes needed to be a great scarer by nature. The two become rivals and in the course of events manage to both be removed from the scaring program at the university, which brings them together as they form an independent fraternity of “monster losers” to compete at the schools annual Scare Games, in order to prove to the faculty that they deserve to be re-admitted to the program. 

There are a bunch of good lessons here about what constitutes a real friendship, the importance of perseverance, and even a subtle critique of academia and our misguided dependence on its unquestioned and exalted authority; but above all this movie is just plain laugh-out-loud funny. I loved the characters, it was visually impressive, and it told a coherent and interesting story, even if it wasn’t the most original thing ever produced by pixar.....it was all still very, very polished and, though it is generally well received, it’s actually already an underrated film. Do yourself a favor and go see it.

I give it 4.4 one-eyed monsters