The latest heartwarming adventure from the corporations that will soon own the very hearts they warm.
I am the kind of guy that thinks everything new ruins everything old. "Classic rock is so much better, why would anyone listen to (insert popular culture reference)?" "Prequels and new Indiana Jones are crap, why don't people just watch the Original Trilogy?" "There's no way this soulless corporation could capture the magic of the original indie production team!" I will defend these statements to the death, but there are exceptions, namely PIXAR. "Toy Story 3" taught me how to cry again and "Monsters University" successfully brings us back into the magical world of monsters.
"Monsters, Inc." was an incredibly bizarre story with strange repercussions in dimensional physics and reality, but managed to wrap a sprawling, zany story in so much heart that it makes me ache with nostalgia. That being said, as soon as I saw advertisements for "Monsters University," I said that it couldn't capture the soul of the first movie. The fact that it was a prequel did not help to assuage my doubts, since there have been so few good prequels in the history of movies that one of the best ones is "Temple of Doom," which most people are unaware is a prequel.
However, not only does "University" capture the heart, it completely justifies itself as a prequel. As soon as the movie started, I realized that I had always wanted to know how Mike and Sully got to where they were in the original movie, and I was ready to get back into that amazing PIXAR storytelling.
The "animated short" that comes before the movie, in classic PIXAR style, is brief and charming. However, the reason the above words are in quotes is because PIXAR is having a nice little romp through the uncanny valley, because at no point in the short can I tell if anything is actually filmed or if it is entirely animated. The point is, its kind of creepy, despite the simple and likable story it portrays about sentient umbrellas in a big city.
Now, on to the movie.
Right away, I have to admit that the movie suffers from Second Installment Syndrome, or SIS. The world has already been so well established that the first ten minutes of the film rush by in a montage that shows a brief clip of the early catalyst for the story followed by ten years of character development in ten seconds. The storytelling is immediately too rapid, despite many good moments of character development, but most of that comes later.
Like "Cars 2," "Monsters University" has shifted our protagonist to the secondary character, except this time it doesn't suck. We see Mike as a young, misfit child and later as a slightly less young, misfit teenager off to scare school to work hard and fulfill his lifelong dreams of being a scarer. As I said the opening plot seems to take shape quite rapidly, as Mike and Sully meet and find that their philosophies on scaring are completely opposite, Mike being a hardworking student and Sully living off of his family name and natural talent at scaring.
Mike works to prove he can be scarier than the blowhard jock and succeeds until they are kicked out of scare school and must strike up a deal with the terrifying Dean of Students to rejoin the school. Mike and Sully must work together to turn their fraternity into the best scarers on campus.
Despite the rapid progression of the first twenty minutes, the movie really gets into its stride in character development. We really get to understand who Mike and Sully are, as well as many other memorable characters. The story ties up with "Monsters, Inc." in a nice little bow, but we get to see how Mike and Sully's relationship led them to be the best scarers in the company.
PIXAR is truly doing some great things with animated movies, especially now that they are appealing to three different generations of viewers. PIXAR started out by making movies that were marketed towards young children, but so undeniably good that adults could not help but be entertained. Now, with "Toy Story 3" showing a grown up Andy going off to college and "Monsters University" showing classic characters as college-age teenagers, it is obvious that PIXAR is marketing to the kids who watched these movies over a decade ago and are now moving on to the next big phase of their lives. It is a great marketing strategy and shows maturity in the way the company is growing.
I believe that PIXAR is also marketing to a third generation into addition to young children and college kids: their parents. "Toy Story 3" showed us Andy's mom to represent the parents that were sad to see their birds leave the nest, but "Monsters University" does not even show the main characters' parents. Instead, this movie is supposed to remind parents of when they were in college, as this clearly represents an 80s-era monster world. This becomes apparent through several references to older music and style, in addition to showing how a certain monsters with no experience are able to start at the bottom of a company and work their way to the top. That's some 90s shit if I've ever seen it. This is intended to make adults nostalgic for the good old days while making the teenagers look forward to their college years to come.
"Monsters University" earns a ranking of Watch It for incredible character development and storytelling, as well as a memorable cast of voice actors that put this movie among the ranks of the PIXAR greats.
Until next time, what are your thoughts on the movie? I love to hear the opinions!
-kmaker
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