Monsters University

When I first heard about his movie, I didn't know what to expect. Pixar has delivered the smash hit "Toy Story 3" but also the critically underrated "Cars 2" (I like that show however). "Monsters University" was also Pixar's first prequel and I hadn't heard of director Dan Scanlon before. When I saw the movie, I was relieved once again because the best characteristic of this film is its story. Some found it predictable but I agrue that it was the opposite. The film also has great new characters and showcases some neat technological advancements. The movie does add subtext to "Monsters, Inc." and that is welcome.

A great part about the story of this prequel is that there are a lot of setbacks for our protagonists with no obvious solutions. Even though we know that Mike and Sulley have to end up at Monsters Inc., we can't see how at certain points in "Monsters University". We are in the hands of the storytellers; never ahead of them. I am happy that the filmmakers did not spoil important story plot points in the trailers such as who Mike's first roommate is. I also love the dialogue scenes between Mike and Sulley from the middle of the film onward. There is a lot of sincere drama. One piece of criticism that I had about the idea for this movie is that there are continuity errors. Both in the teaser trailer for "Monsters, Inc." and early in that movie itself, it is mentioned that Mike and Sulley have known each other at least since grade 4 but thankfully the filmmakers didn't overlook this. Director Dan Scanlon tried multiple ways of creating this storyline but nothing was working. Executive producers John Lasseter and Pete Doctor then informed him that they honored his attempts but advised him to do what felt right for the story. Knowing that information satisfies me. These lines about Mike and Sulley's elementary days can therefore be interpreted as expressions between friends as opposed to recollections. Mike is the protagonist in "Monsters University" whereas Sulley was the main character in the first film if you had to choose one. This change works though because Mike was less of a supporting character in the first film and more like an equal to Sulley, just like Woody and Buzz or Belle and the Beast. In "Cars", Mater was a supporting character and so him becoming the protagonist in the sequel didn't work all that well. Mike is also a better underdog. The opening sequence of Mike's first visit as a child to Monsters, Inc. was very important for the whole movie. I had a small wish that the first scene on this movie would show Mike and Sulley laughing as they watch the tape of Waternoose being exposed and then we flashback to Monsters University as they recall where they first met. This imagined opening sequence of mine however would not have served the whole movie. We all know who Mike Wazowski is but for this new story, we need to reconnect with him on an emotional level. We have to root for him and at the same time have fear that he will fail. This is hard to accomplish because this is a prequel but the filmmakers were able to do it thanks to the opening. The field trip effectively turns Mike into a character that we sympathize with. He undertakes an impossible goal for someone like him. This kind of introduction would have worked well for a new character but because it is a beloved character already known to the audience, Mike becomes an even better character than before because we admire him more for trying than for his successes. Mike's hat can be likened unto the grade soda pin in "Up" because it represents Mike's goal and I love how it becomes even more old and worn by the time he arrives at university. It is a great use of technology to support the story. The two main characters do seem a little different from their older selves. Mike tells Sulley at the start "Monsters, Inc." that "there's more to life than scaring" which contradicts everything Mike did at university. Sulley in the prequel is depicted as a proud and self-absorbed instead of the benevolent workaholic from the first film. The good news is that he is different on the inside. Sulley's hardworking nature seems to have been developed over time thanks to Mike. As for Mike, he does say "When I'm a scarer, life will be a non-stop party" in this prequel. Also, maybe his future relationship with Celia loosened him up a little. If Bob and Helen Parr experienced a change in their priorities over the course of 15 years then why not Mike and Sulley. Just as with "Toy Story 3", kids who saw the first film are now grown up and in university themselves. In the establishment of Monsters University, I wanted to be reminded of my own first day in university. I will admit that it was more intimidating than Mike's first day but I did have a lot of memories come back to me. The filmmakers did capture the pressure of university though. They visited a campus to research for the film and they took note of the strain of schoolwork. "Monsters, Inc." showed how and why monsters scare kids and this movie expanded that as well as taught us the psychology behind scaring. The filmmakers took much of what was great about the original movie and developed it further to assist the back story of Mike and Sulley. The story of this movie can be likened unto that of the first "Toy Story" because you have two different individuals who need each other. There is an initial rivalry but due to a crisis in both their lives, they have to work together and end up becoming the best of friends.

One minor mistake I feel I need to point out is that Sulley could have easily stopped that canister from falling of its pedestal. He had time to catch it. When it breaks, you fully expect Hardscrabble to loose her temper. She is the top scarer of all time but yet is very dignified. She comes across as a time bomb waiting to explode but instead of doing that, she deals with Mike and Sulley in the most painful way they can imagine. She knows what makes them afraid and it is not roaring or shouting. As Mike, Sulley and the rest of Oozma Kappa begin the Scare Games, it is obvious that the team is flawed. Mike and Sulley are only part of the fraternity so they can get back into the scare program. Mike is bossy & a control freak and Sulley doesn't care. The team also looses moral by way of a prank and I love how it is both reminiscent and exactly the opposite of "Carrie". One of the most obvious rules of school is that when the popular kids invite you to a party out of the blue, don't go. It is a trap. I could sense that Oozma Kappa was being targeted from the moment they are invited to the ROR house and so could Sulley. The secret trip to Monsters, Inc. not only inspires the weaker members of the team but helps Mike and Sulley find common ground. When Oozma Kappa wins the Scare Games, it seems too easy. When the truth is revealed, it is a huge setback to Mike and Sulley's friendship. Sulley however finally does an honorable thing by coming clean to the staff. He feels incredible guilt after Mike and the others had worked so hard to win. Mike in the meantime needs to prove that he is a good scarer and there is only one way he can accomplish this. The filmmakers did a smart thing by having Mike go to a human girls camp. First of all, the girls are designed as very cute & innocent and secondly, camp can be a scary place for girls their age. This is important to the story because if Mike can't scare girls at this age in this location, he is definitely not scary. The adorable curiosity that the girls show in Mike as he tries to scare them is a memorable moment. When Sulley finds Mike by the lake, we get quite a dramatic scene of reconciliation. Then Mike and Sulley have to work together to get home and their huge success is proof of how much they need each other. Sulley may be scary but with Mike's knowledge, he is horrifying to humans. Sulley suddenly realizes the power of their teamwork as Mike leaves on the bus and Hardscrabble further inspires them to not give up on their dreams. Just as "Finding Nemo" taught us how to talk to whales and "Up" identified what a snipe is, "Monsters University" explains in one line the origin of the abominable snowman in the Himalayas and it is pretty funny to me. Another little wish of mine was to see Boo in this film. She is so important to this franchise. I guess that is the main reason why I wanted this story to be told in flashback. Every important plot point of this story of this film is silently established and then paid off such as the door-creating classroom. The film continues to be entertaining to watch because you can sense the hard work of the filmmakers on the story. As nice as this movie was, there wasn't much chance that it could be better than the first film but prequels are never meant to be better than the original film or films. The "Star Wars" prequels for example were overly anticipated and this led to bitter disappointment for many fans. The best part of any story is the ending and the ending of Mike and Sulley's story is not when they leave Monsters University. It is when they become the heads of Monsters, Inc. and Sulley is reunited with Boo. I see two noteworthy technological advancements in this film. The first has to do with the look of the characters. I love how the character of Art is designed because his texture appears exactly like a live-action Muppet. Design-wise, the characters are simple so as to coincide with the design of "Monsters, Inc." but there are subtle complexities such as Hardscrabble's legs. Secondly, Global Illumination is being used for the first time in a Pixar film. Reflections, shadows and light sources in the past had to be manually controlled but the process is now more automatic. Once light is created in the computer, it knows how to behave on its own. You might think that this kind of technology would take the artistry away from human beings but instead; Pixar had more time to focus on the complexity of the sets.

When we watch any Toy Story movie, we forget that Tom Hanks and Tim Allen play Woody and Buzz respectively. Mike and Sulley have officially achieved the status of characters that are fully believable. Billy Crystal and John Goodman both did amazing in returning to play these characters 12 years later. One thing they did well in their performances was to make subtle changes so that Mike and Sulley sound younger. Their dramatic scenes are my favorite. I can tell that Crystal in particular enjoyed returning to one of his favorite roles in his career. As a side note, I was very impressed by Noah Johnston as the young Mike. Goodman is able to act like the perfect proud and self-absorbed hotshot while still retaining elements of the original character from 2001. Steve Buscemi did amazing himself in creating a voice for young Randy that is quite different from the adult Randall in the original film. This is really evident in his last eerie line in the movie. I am so happy that Dave Foley is back in a Pixar film as Terry (with a "y"). He is also the voice of Flik. Peter Sohn, a storyboard artist at the studio, is becoming very noteworthy. We first heard his voice as Emile in "Ratatouille" and he was also the inspiration for Russell in "Up". In "Monsters University", he is Squishy and Sohn would later direct the feature film "The Good Dinosaur". The best new character in the whole film is Dean Hardscrabble as voiced by Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren. Her voice fit as perfectly with the design of the character as Peter O'Toole's did for Ego. Other noteworthy cast members include Alfred Molina, Albertan Nathan Fillion, Bonnie Hunt (this is her 6th Pixar film) and Bill Hader (it appears that Pixar put him to work on this film when he came in to voice for "Inside Out"). I was afraid for a moment that Roz was not voiced by Pixar's own Bob Peterson and so the end credits were a huge relief for me. John Ratzenberger is the Stan Lee of Pixar in terms of cameos in that you are always waiting for his character to show up. Even a brief appearance is entertaining as is the case with this movie. As mentioned, I didn't take much notice of director Dan Scanlon's name until now. He has done a few things story-wise for Pixar but I will just quickly mention here that he is the co-director of "Mater and the Ghostlight". What I am most happy about is that John Lasseter, Pete Doctor, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich are the executive producers. Randy Newman's score seemed pretty original in contrast to his work on "Toy Story 3" but there were a few moments in "Monsters University" that musically harkened back to the original film.

This movie sadly marks the end of a tradition for me because after 2013, my Pixar Marathons became annual instead of semi-annual because of the sheer number of movies that Pixar has released. In August of 2005, I finally had all the Pixar films up to that point on DVD and to celebrate, I did a movie marathon by watching one movie a day in order of their release. That was when there were only six films. It was so much fun that over the next eight years, I did a Pixar marathon semi-annually to coincide with the theatrical and DVD release of the latest film. It was a great way of judging and emotionally connecting to a new Pixar film. On the occasion of the Blu-ray release of "Monsters University", the marathon lasted 14 days but I should have cherished it. On the night before buying "Monsters University", I realized that "Inside Out" would not be released until a year and half later which meant no new Pixar film in 2014 to do a marathon for. I still did a marathon that year but not two as is usual. My two Pixar marathons a year were fun because there was always something new at the end to look forward to. It was like a new member of the family coming into existance. The release of "Toy Story 4" was the occasion that I stopped doing a marathon all together mostly because of the vast number of Pixar films. I miss this tradition which was so motivational and uplifting because Pixar isn't just about making money. They desire to tell great stories and the story of "Monsters University" is good as a result. The characters are also noteworthy. In closing, I would like to make an analogy. I love the set of lines at one point between Mike and ROR where Johnny says to Mike that when Oozma Kappa looses the Scare Games, no one will ever remember them. Mike however reminds ROR that when Oozma Kappa wins, no one will ever let ROR forget it. Ironically, this has happened to Pixar in real life. Film critics will never forgive Pixar for "Cars 2", which they saw as a failure. However, can we really liken Pixar unto ROR? The public and film critics may see Pixar as the most popular "sorority" in the "university" of computer animation but I am sure that Pixar would disagree with that comparison. They see themselves as a hodgepodge of crazy people that don't fit in anywhere else. I don't think many of these filmmakers were all that popular when they were in school. Many of them failed multiplie times at getting into Pixar before finally achieving their dream. Pixar is more like Oozma Kappa in that they give themselves great challenges. When you feel like an underdog, you work harder.

4 Stars out of 5