Review of Monsters University (2013) by Daniel M — 20 Jun 2015

If you look at the Pixar catalog, you will see that not a single one of their films needs a sequel but some of them have more than enough material to cover more than one sequel due to their proposes/history possibilities. "Monsters Inc." is one of those films, as its ending presented numerous possibilities surrounding Sullivan´s relationship with Boo but Pixar decided to make a prequel instead, their first.

Before the events of "Monster Inc.", Wazowski is a young monster with the dream of becoming the best scarer. He ingresses in the prestigious college of Monster University and immediately starts to study hard to achieve his dream but he doesn't know that another monster called James P Sullivan also attempts to achieve this recognition.

If have read my review of "Monster Inc." you know that it is my childhood favorite of Pixar´s but now I consider it one of the films that is right there in middle of the company´s catalog, but regardless I wasn't excited for this prequel. Right off the bat the idea of making a prequel telling the story how Sullivan and Wazowski meet in their college years is a limited, unoriginal and questionable story to tale and shockingly Pixar deliver exactly that. "Monsters University" counts with a cliché, predictable and forgettable story; the new characters fail to make an impact in the audience (you may think some of them are cute but other than that, you will soon forget about them), the jokes are mainly aim to the younger crowds, some of the beloved characters of the first instalments are here in unnecessary cameos that take you out of the film, the film never explores the comedic possibilities of this scare university, it lacks the heart of the Pixar films (unlike the majority of their work, this prequel lacks any emotional scene that either stands out or touches your heartstrings), the animation is a colossal improvement, the choice of making the comic relief the central character didn't exactly pay off due to the juvenile version isn't what we loved about him yet, and it lacks the creative/ironic setup of the monsters relation with the human children. With all those problems, this prequel still manages to entertain you due to its sweet vibe and colorful world, the message stands out from many of the film of the animation genre and its execution is absolutely perfect, and the ending is the high mark of this film -its clever, unexpected, more than serviceable and its what ultimately gave this film its purpose.

"Monster University" is one of the weakest Pixar films (in fact, only the Cars franchise is weaker than this). A fun and sweet film that's ultimately forgettable and the most uncreative film of the studio.