IMDB Score – 7.4
Rotten Tomato Score – 78%

Directed By – Dan Scanlon
Starring – Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Peter Soh, Joel Murray, Sean Hayes, Charlue Day, Dave Foley, and Nathan Fillion

A look at the relationship between Mike and Sulley during their days at Monsters University — when they weren’t necessarily the best of friends.

I’ve been a fan of Pixar for as long as I can remember. My father and I, up until only recently, made it a small tradition to see the Pixar films in theaters together and while we haven’t gone since Ratatouille, I’ll remember the times we did fondly. Honestly I think we’re just waiting for the right film. “Up” would have been a great film to see with him but the “Cars” films never peaked our interest. I haven’t even seen the second one after the first was so disappointing. While not a big fan of “Monster’s Inc.”, I still wanted to catch this one even though I missed it in theaters and I’m actually glad I waited because I feel I enjoyed it more knowing I didn’t have to pay theater prices to see it. Plus, it would have been a zoo of children.

I think everybody knows the premise of this film and if you don’t it’s not that hard to figure out. The film tells the story of how Mike and Sully met and rose to fame in College to become the scare masters that they eventually became. Honestly, I didn’t care for the story. Pixar is known for throwing in very serious undertones in their stories and in Monster’s University it just seems like they played it as safe as they possibly could. I’ve read this observation with the movie before but it really is just “Revenge of the Nerds” with more hair and teeth. Mike and Sully team a band of rejects and try to overthrow the popular and scarier monsters. I expected more from Pixar.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie. It was silly and a lot of fun but really didn’t try to break any grounds. The monsters introduced in the film were top notch and I enjoyed seeing them all interact with each other. The music was fantastic and the colors in this film are gorgeous. It really just boils down to the film being a good family film instead of the groundbreaking story telling machine that Pixar has built itself into. I’m hoping they come out with a few more films like “Wall-E”, “Finding Nemo”, or “Up” in the near future.

3/5