Monsters University (2013)
Rating- U
Running Time- 1 hour 44 minutes
Directed by- Dan Scanlon
Written by- Dan Scanlon, Daniel Gerson and Robert L. Baird
The long wait is finally over. The much anticipated return of James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski is finally here…
The long wait is finally over. The much anticipated return of James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski is finally here…
Hey!
Wait a minute!
Since when did Sully style his head hair into a small quiff?
And when did Mike start wearing braces?
Oh… I see. The film is set several years before the events of Monsters Inc. (2001) and follows our two beloved nut bars while they study at university.
The title makes much more sense now.
But can it be done? Can Pixar recreate the formula that made Monsters Inc. such an incredible movie? The answer is no. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie, just not nearly as good as its glorious predecessor.
Monsters University attempts to recapture all of the elements that made Monsters Inc. so successful. They worked the plot around the relationship of Mike and Sully, they used the same kind of humour and they tried to create a strong emotional response from the audience. But then why wasn’t the film as good as the original? Simply because they didn’t fulfil any of the above criteria to the standards previously set.
There were a few laughs but nothing as funny as “put that thing back where it came from or so help me”. It was also emotional at times but there wasn’t anything that tugged on the heart strings quite like Boo. And they ever so slightly changed the dynamic of the Wazowski/Sullivan partnership to render it slightly less fun.
It’s an almost unnoticeable change but nevertheless it stops it from reaching the heights of Monsters Inc. The film’s central character is Mike rather than Sully. This isn’t too much of an issue as they are together most of the time anyway but I couldn’t help feeling that I wanted to know more about Sully’s back story, regarding the huge pressure he is under to live up to his family name, rather than being subjected to Mike’s rather obvious underdog story. Mike’s story isn’t a bad one but the fact that Sully doesn’t appear until about 15-20 minutes into the film took me out of the comfort zone created by the original film. More often than not being taken away from what you expect is a good thing but in this case it was somewhat unwelcome and unnecessary.
The film did have a decent enough plot though and the character relationships all seemed real. But I felt that there was something missing. Something to tie the movie together. And I feel that that something was a song. Some of the best Pixar movies contain a memorable song, usually written by the great Randy Newman, that brings all of the aspects of the movie together. Think It’s the Time of your Life (A Bug’s Life, 1998), When Somebody Loved Me (Toy Story 2, 1999), If I didn’t have you (Monsters Inc.) and We Belong Together (Toy Story 3, 2010). All of these songs create atmospheres that capture the essence of a particular scene or the movie as a whole. The songs don’t just exist, they become one with their films; it’s hard to think of Toy Story (1995) without thinking ofYou’ve got a Friend in Me. But Monsters University didn’t have a song like this, it was void of any songs other than instrumentals that, despite being great for their purpose, didn’t carry the same wholesome feeling that was apparent in previous Pixar films and this in my opinion was detrimental to the film.
You may have noticed that this review seems to be almost entirely negative but that’s only because I can’t help but compare it to its predecessor. This may seem unfair but it’s only natural. The truth is it is a good movie and I would recommend it but I have come to the realisation that the best thing I got out of this film is that it made me want to watch Monsters Inc. again. All in all it’s a good movie but it fails to step out of the sizeable shadow of its predecessor.
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| Final Rating. Three Stars. |
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