"Monsters University" is a movie that's certainly much better than "Brave" or "Cars 2." But if we're saying that this is Pixar's best movie since 2010's "Toy Story 3," it becomes quite a disappointing revelation, as the perfection and high standards we've come to expect no longer appear to be present. Does this mean that when "The Good Dinosaur" hits theaters next year, we should lower our expectations? I certainly hope not. But anyway, as ramble-filled as this review has been so far, I had to express this disappointment first to justify why I'm giving an otherwise pretty solid animated movie a lower-good grade. It's because it should be better--given the reputation of the studio behind it, and the charm and heart of the first film, and the affection we have for the original 2001 film, its characters, and its universe. We LOVE Mike and Sulley. We cherish the original as a modern day classic, and it's because of that love that we have an innate desire to want and expect more when given the opportunity to revisit this world and its characters.
Having said that, "Monsters University" is fine enough. There are a few pretty funny jokes scattered here and there, and a bit of heart and realism to it that make it better than most insipid animated films. And for the most part, the chemistry and affection we have for Mike and Sully hasn't waived at all. So it's fascinating and fun to see Mike and Sully and even Randall first meet each other. Upon the opening scene of seeing a 2 headed pigeon, we quickly establish how good it feels to be back in Monstropolis.
When the movie begins we are introduced to an adorable elementary school Mike Wazowski--young go-getter without friends or the respect of his fellow students--on a field trip to the legendary Monsters Inc. scare factory. Whilst sneaking into an activated child's door, Mike witnesses a real life adult monster at work, collecting the screams of a child for power (as established in the first film). Greatly inspired by what he just saw, as well as a complement from the adult monster, he decides from then on, he sets his goal and ambition is to become a top-scarer. And the only way to do that is to enroll in Monsters University. Mike grows up and does just that, moving into college, meeting his roommate Randall, and butting heads with a young Sulley ("Jimmy P. Sullivan"--son of the legendary Sullivan family, as he initially introduces himself). After getting kicked out of the scaring program by the ruthless Dean Hardscrabble, both Mike and Sully team up with the loser fraternity of Oozma Kappa to compete in the school's annual Scare Games. If they win, the dean will reinstate them to the program. If they lose, they get expelled from the school.
Once more, the film works, but mostly due to the good will built up from the previous movie. We know who Sulley and Mike are going to be, and we know they're going to end up friends. But we want to know how because we've cared about them since the first film. Perhaps the new bits of information that we get are that Mike used to dream about being a scarer, and sadly, that dream goes unfulfilled when he's repeatedly told he's not scary. I'd say that's a lot of where the heart and depth of the movie comes from--the theme that sometimes in life things don't always turn out how we want them to. I think it's a very strong mature theme to teach children, and it's sad that we only really deal with this towards the last third of the movie. But nevertheless, I'll give Pixar credit for tackling this, even if it's not handled in as mature a manner as the themes from other classics dating back to "Toy Story 3" and before.
It's interesting however to see how Mike and Sulley evolve as characters between the events in this film and the events in the first film, particularly how they start off as rivals and become friends. It's also interesting to see who Sulley and Mike are before they've matured. Pixar also thankfully makes the characterization of their friendship organic and realistic. They don't just start off as friends, and even when they begin to get closer, they are still struggling to achieve/earn the level of closeness we see between them in the first film. And you wouldn't expect any less from a company that's enabled us to sympathize with toys, fish, robots, bugs, and old men.
Billy Crystal and John Goodman are once again wonderful, and completely well suited as an on-screen team, with Crystal accomplishing one of his most heartfelt performances to date. As Mike, he's really the heart and soul of the movie, with so much spark/determination to achieve his dreams, and so much sympathy when he realizes he will never achieve them. Goodman is also great, at once portraying Sulley as a cocky, lazy jerk, coasting on the success of his family name, but still with a heart of gold--more arrogant than in the first film, which makes sense as this version of the character is naive, brash, stupid, and young. These are college kids after all. One of the highlight scenes in the movie, highlighting how well the two characters work together is a climactic scene where Mike and Sulley are stranded at a human summer camp, and have to "scare" their way back to the monster world, using Mike's strategic wit and book-smarts, and Sulley's physical intimidation. The sequence becomes intense and exciting and a is a joy to watch. On the other, less action-heavy, hand, another of the standout scenes comes when Sulley and Mike talk about their failures and disappointments in life, in a poignant, honest manner that solidifies their trust in one another, finally giving them mutual ground for which they can relate to one another on. It's that moment the friendship you witnessed in the original film is earned, and the relationship this franchise is based on and revolves around is achieved.
Adding to several comedic moments are a veritable who's-who of comedic supporting actors. The Oozma Kappa gang consists of Squishy (voiced by Peter Sohn--who also plays Emile in Ratatouille), who has a hilarious recurring gag about sneaking up on Mike, Joel Murray as Don, a former older sales monster looking for a new start at MU, the wonderfully hilarious Charlie Day as Art, the strange, out-there hippie monster, and Sean Hayes and Dave Folley as two-headed monster Terri and Terry. All of the OK fraternity's characters have various moments of hilarity, particularly Day as Art, and his complete randomness ("I CAN'T GO BACK TO PRISON AGAIN!), and Sohn's Squishy, who set up the frat house in his mom's old home. On the Roar Omega Roar fraternity, we get Mr. Malcolm Reynolds, Nathan Fillion himself, in a very Captain Hammer-esque role, as Johnny, leader of ROR, and SNL cast member Bobby Moynihan as his sidekick Chet. Then reprising his role from the first film, the always welcome Steve Buscemi as Randall--who starts out as really decent friends with Mike, before revealing his ambitious snake-like ways when he gets into ROR. All of these characters are fascinating to watch even if they're pretty limited in terms of development. Understandably, this is Mike and Sulley's movie, so the focus needs to be on them. But nevertheless, they bring a lot of fun, energy, and comedy to the movie (though here and there a joke will fall flat). The most welcome newcomer to the bunch is, of course, the wonderful and chilling Helen Mirren as Dean Hardscrabble. It becomes a bit inevitable and predictable that she ends up rooting for Mike and Sulley, but for the most part, she plays the role with a very callous, discouraging chill in her voice.
The animation in the film is good. It's not quite as technically or visually impressive as the gorgeous space scenes from Wall-E or the explosions from the Parisian kitchen of Gusteau's from Ratatouille, but it's impressive that Pixar was able to create incredibly huge crowd scenes with unique monsters. They also managed to get the look and feel of a real university correct, borrowing heavily from the aesthetic environment of UC Berkeley, Stanford, and other top schools.
Overall, the movie is not bad. But I can't help but admit that as much as I laughed, and as much as I enjoyed seeing these characters again, I ended up not really thinking about the movie all that much when I left. And that has never usually been the case with most Pixar films I see, which is a bit sad. "Monsters" is enjoyable but it leaves you feeling emptier than usual at a Pixar movie, because you were hoping for more--funnier scenes, stronger story, deeper message. And what you're left with is merely...acceptable. I know the folks at Pixar will get back to doing stronger movies someday--we've seen them at their best and we know they're capable of it. But for now we're honestly just being forced to deal with 'okay"--which I guess is apt given the initials of Oozma Kappa. I guess I'll just have to wait until they're out of their "mediocre" period for a true return to form.
Overall Rating: B
SIDE NOTE: The short that plays before "Monsters University" called "The Blue Umbrella" is quite good. Not as winning or sweet as Disney's "Paperman" last year, but Pixar gets you to feel and sympathize with an umbrella, so that's gotta count for something. Plus on a technical level, this is definitely Pixar's most reallistic looking animation to date. When you go to see "Monsters," look out for this one and enjoy!
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