Review of Monsters University (2013) by Kristina M — 08 Mar 2014

Top Movies of 2013 - #10.

Pixar, the studio responsible for Finding Nemo and Monster's Inc., is known for producing animated masterpieces. As of recently, the studio has been in a bit of a decline with Cars 2 and Brave, so when the studio announced a prequel to the beloved Monster's Inc., many weren't excited. When the movie did release, I found it to be one of the better films of the year,although not to the heights of Toy Story or Wall-E (if it were, you would've been reading this much higher up). The movie was a fantastic display of special effects, with the environments looking photo realistic. What really caught me was the plot, which I think breaks the mold for the message in an animated movie. Spoiler Alert for those who didn't see it (I also recommend that you do).

Mike is determined to be a scarer, he knows the theory and all the methods, but what he doesn't have is the ability to actually be scary. He believes that he can become a scarer, and goes to great lengths to prove it, despite being kicked out the scare program. He enters a scaring competition with Sully to prove his ability, where his amazing leadership and organization results in the team reaching the finals. The final challenge is to scare a dummy for points,to which Mike scares the dummy and scores the highest, resulting in the win. He then finds out that Sully rigged the machine to give a high score every time,as he too believed in his lack of ability. Determined to prove him wrong, Mike uses a door to the human world to scare some kids. Unlike other films, where Mike would believe in himself enough and have the potential inside him to be a master scarer, Mike finds himself unable to scare the kids. Sully comes in to help him, and is now put in a position where he has to scare adults who are harder to scare to power up to door back to the Monster World. Mike sets up the lighting and fog for the cabin and using wires, put the adults in a position where Sully can scare them. They succeed and return to Monsters University where they are expelled from these events. Mike is distraught as his entire life goal has fallen apart, but Sully shows him that were it not for his skill with tension and his leadership of the team, they would've never gotten anywhere. Mike has the realization that he never meant to be a scarer, but as an organizer and a leader, as these were what he loved.

The movie gave us the message that you can't be great at everything, but you could be great at something you love. It was a change from the usual messages of animated movies where you could be anything you want to be, into one that's more realistic. It's true of many students in the schools and universities today that are pursuing careers for the money and prestige, not because it's what they love to do. It's a movie about accepting who you are, and not what others want you to be, a very refreshing view from this film.