Monsters University stops the bleeding by Pixar. The movie doesn’t quite hit the moviemakers’ highest of highs, but it does hit some very good emotional beats using the natural chemistry of Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James ‘Sully’ Sullivan (John Goodman). Monsters University doesn’t quite reach transcendent status like Pixar’s early efforts, but it is a welcome return to form for a high quality studio.
Monsters University starts off with a young Mike getting a tour of his future workplace: Monsters Inc. He becomes so inspired by scaring that he reads everything he can on the subject and goes to the best scaring college: Monsters University. Also attending is family legacy Sully, who has been coasting on his natural scaring and name. Naturally, these two butt heads until after an unexpected accident, they are forced to join forces in the socially inept fraternity to win their way back into the good graces of the university.
Monsters University jumps between lampooning and paying homage to the college movie. Coupled with the G rating, many of the jokes are neutered resulting in mixed payoff. Newer stereotypes work well such as the diverse activities fair and older college students going though life changes. However, the frat challenge has been done before and only distinguishes itself by being more colorful. In fact, the writers of Monsters University make sure that kids will understand the jokes first instead of writing for people of all ages. Monsters University moves pretty fast so none of the jokes becomes too stale, but no biting commentary on college living really comes across in Monsters University.
The effects are first-rate (in 2D) as is to be expected from a Pixar film. The campus resembles a beautiful mix of modern schools with older universities, with different buildings for tech and arts wings. The monsters themselves are the right mix of cuddly and interesting. Shading is used to excellence in the third act when scaring takes on more of a role as well. Regardless of the story, Pixar delivers on its visual effects in every film; Monsters University continues this trend.
Fortunately, Mike and Sully’s relationship makes up for all of Monsters University’s shortcomings. Much like Kirk and Spock, Mike’s book smarts versus Sully’s improvisation is a well that never runs dry and is equally effective comedically and especially emotionally. The climax of the story doesn’t exactly go as expected, as the themes of dreams coming true in different ways makes its way to both Sully and Mike. This third act right turn propels Monsters University to a solid ending instead of being just another bland kids film.
Monsters University gave me some pangs of nostalgia about my college experience, most notably the Frisbee quad games and the obscure clubs to join. It was also very colorful and fun, which any person can get behind. I hope this film results in a course correction for Pixar since the third act became so poignant. Maybe the success of Monsters University will bring us the Incredibles 2, which I would be very excited to see.