Review of Monsters University (2013) by Hoops2448 — 01 Sep 2013

I went into Monsters University with very little in the way of expectations and I came out surprised and disappointed at the same time as the prequel to Monsters Inc is both wonderful and aggravating at the same time.

When Mike Wasowksi (Billy Crystal) arrives at Monsters University he meets rebellious James Sullivan (John Goodman) and the two tangle to become the greatest scarers until they are forced to team up to avoid getting expelled.

University does manage to avoid the pratfalls of prequels by keeping the story light and narrow in scope while filling the film with a brand new crop of monsters and a few choice cameos for longtime monsters fans.

However it also lacks that Monsters Inc had, a no holes barred adventure with a beautiful ending. University is fun and has some action in it but it lacks the guts of its predecessor and feels like its lacking because of it.

As usual the animation is stellar with Pixar constantly raising the bar on themselves but it all feels similar. If anything, Monsters Inc has robber University of the awe this film would have caused as a stand alone feature.

Crystal and Goodman are having fun doing the voices yet again as these two really come alive. The film depicts the beginning of a beautiful friendship and it finds its heart through this odd couple pairing but it lacks the child like innocence of Inc and ultimately if there is no Boo then you won't be able to achieve the same effect making it a good thing University doesn't try to.