Movies: Monsters University

Score:  **** out of ***** (B+)

Long Story Short:  Monsters University is Pixar's highly anticipated once-a-year release for 2013, the studio's first prequel film.  While far different in detail, University is quite like last year's Brave in that it retains the fundamental excellence that we expect from Pixar... but the story and characters don't have the originality or the pop that defined the studio's best efforts.  Still, it's great entertainment, especially for younger kids.


Unfortunately, I've gotten so backed up on my movie watching now that this review comes a full month after its release in theaters.  I should be able to reset, though, as I don't intend to see any other movies out right now (well, I'd like to see The Way, Way Back, but unfortunately it's a limited release).  A fair number out right now might be worthy of Netflix, but to stave off potential burn out, I'll be skipping them for now (White House Down, Pacific Rim, etc.).  Back to this movie:  as I've said before, Pixar is the best film studio going right now, and so it's pretty much a guarantee I'll go see whatever they make.  I wanted to see the original Monsters, Inc. before seeing this, but apparently so did a lot of other people on Netflix so I couldn't.  Oh well.  Monsters University was directed by Dan Scanlon and features the voice work of Billy Crystal and John Goodman.

A class of little tike monsters (literally) takes a field trip to a factory of sorts, where the workers "make" fear in human children by walking through magical doors into the kids' bedrooms at night.  One little monster, named Mike, is particularly fascinated with this, and sneaks a peak at one of the professionals at work.  From that day on, Mike is determined to become a "scarer", and he heads off to Monsters University to train to become one.  In the prestigious "School of Scare", Mike (Crystal) meets Sully (Goodman), a hulking fellow who's the son of a famous scarer.  The two are instant antagonists.

Unfortunately, their rivalry puts them both into a lot of trouble and, faced with little other choice, forces them to work together in a University "scare competition".  The two must maximize each other's strengths - and cover for each other's weaknesses - and get along well enough so that they can both pursue what is, for different reasons, their one true calling.

Pixar films always have colorful characters, and Monsters University takes that more literally than most.  Reprising his role from Monsters, Inc., Billy Crystal voices Mike Wazowski.  Not having seen the original, I can't make comparisons, but Crystal's voice is well-suited in University for Mike's bookish yet fiercely determined personality.  He's a likable, though not particularly original, character.  Goodman is a similarly good fit as Sully, a massive guy whose personality is actually more sarcastic, even bored, than overbearing in anyway (as his physical stature might imply).  Clearly second fiddle, Sully is also likable but not particularly noteworthy.  Other notable voices/characters include Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) - a tough and frightening yet not "bad" character who makes an impression in her handful of scenes; Chet, a frat guy (SNL's Bobby Moynihan) - mostly because I love his lispy NY accent, but he has some of the funniest lines, too; and a nice ensemble of lesser known actors voicing the dorky helpers of Mike and Sully in the scare competition.

It's been years since these animated films - invented by Pixar with 1995's Toy Story - seemed novel, and so the pressure to come up with great animation and great storytelling gets harder and harder.  And Pixar keeps succeeding.  Monsters University is a beautiful film, one of the studio's most colorful.  As usual, the level of detail is impeccable, particularly with all the clever parallels between "normal" college campuses and the monsters'.  But it's not all eye candy.  University has a sturdy backbone of story and characters - even if, like last year's Brave, those elements are not quite as original as we've come to expect from Pixar.  The focus is always where it should be with Pixar:  here, that's in the two main characters and their relationship, with the background of a training as scarers at a monster college an important element but not a distracting one.  The humor doesn't succeed as well as in most Pixar films, as most of the laughs are aimed at younger children (usually, Pixar makes everyone laugh at most jokes).  For older viewers, most of the humor is "oh, that's cute" or found in the college-life comparisons.  A final note:  I liked the soundtrack a lot, particularly with its emphasis on marching band-style pieces.  I highly recommend checking out the signature song, "Gospel" by MarchFourth Marching Band (OK, I'm a sucker for awesome brass music - but still).

***

Alright, so most of what I've said about Monsters University has been pretty positive; why only a B+?  Well, I generally review movies a week after I see them, in order to "digest" them.  Usually, my mind wanders back to the movie on its own throughout that week, as I think about the notable parts - good or bad.  I really didn't do that with University.  Just like last year's Brave, this is a technically proficient film, solid to excellent in so many areas that other studios get lazy about or ignore.  But, to me, is just wasn't that memorable.  While I particularly enjoyed the "college" setting, the characters and story - while good - weren't very original or exceptional.  And original and exceptional are the characteristics that set apart Pixar's greats and masterpieces.  Monsters University is even a tad long for my tastes.  That is all to explain why it didn't quite get an "A", but it's still very solid entertainment.  Particularly if you have kids - but even if you don't - University is a good time.  You can certainly wait for this on Netflix, but if you want to see a movie in the theater and don't want to take a risk that it will suck or you won't like it, this is as safe a bet as you can make.