MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (Published in July's FAMILY Magazine ~ Distributed in Michiana)

Cole’s Rating: ★★★
Jesse's Rating: ★★★

Director: Dan Scanlon

Year: 2013

Cast: Billy Crystal, John Goodman

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy

MPAA Rating: G

        When you watch the trailer for Pixar’s MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, you witness two things: an offer to view one of the most clever approaches at a children’s movie in a dozen years (since MONSTERS INC.), and the film’s brightest spots of humor. What was effortless in the former (good humor) is harder for the latter to produce because a vast majority of it takes a much more heavy-handed route of storytelling... But storytelling it does; it tells the story of Mike Wazowksi and James P. Sullivan’s ragtag adventures while attempting to become a “Scarer” in the school they enlisted in, Monsters University. One of the greatest things about MONSTERS UNIVERSITY is how swiftly the story moves along, and how you learn to fall in love with the characters you already knew as it progresses, and as you learn more about the monsters’ origin in 2013’s best kid’s movie to date.

        Now, I loved MONSTERS INC. In fact, that’s probably one of my favorite children’s movies of all time. When I saw that they were making a prequel, I knew it wasn’t going to be as good as the original because of the loss of the little girl Boo that motivated the characters’ actions. It takes out the sentimentality that I cherished so much about the first one; and I’m a sucker for kids, so that’s where this falls short for me. But when you’re watching it, understand that it’s there to tell its own story, do its own thing, and entertain, despite the fact that it requires comparison to its predecessor.

        MONSTERS UNIVERSITY is for everyone in the family. The last recent children’s movie I saw, EPIC, was intended more for kids as it focused more on its visual aspect and entertainment value than anything else. But with this, parents will find themselves reliving their college experiences (whether or not they were majoring in “Scare”) thanks to the incredible production design and well crafted social situations among the monsters (who seem eerily human here). If you’re wondering if it is worth your time, that’s up to you. If you see it as dropping five to seven bucks per person on a movie that only lasts an hour and a half, I’d stay away. But if you’d like to invest your money in a great moviegoing experience by buying tickets to MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, I can’t advise you otherwise. I guarantee that you won’t regret it.

-Written by Cole Pollyea

Jesse's Thoughts: If you made an animated version of the recent release The Internship and sprinkled it with an edited for content addition of 1984's Revenge of the Nerds, Monsters University is what you'd get. It's a fun, briskly paced cartoon adventure that brings more kid humor to the table than adult humor. That's okay because the adults that take their kids to see it will still laugh and have a good time regardless (after all, it is rated G). I have to admit, this is a sufficient prequel that actually surpasses the original (Monsters Inc.).You get to know all the characters (Mike Wazowski, James Sullivan, Randall Boggs) and get insight into how they came together or met at where else, college. It's clever and though I've never been a huge fan of animated films, Monsters University surprised me. This flick gets things right pretty much the whole time until the ending which is sort of a cop-out. I won't reveal what happens but if I was behind the camera, I'd change it up a bit. Anyways, I will say this, if you want to take in an animated film that tells a straight story and moderately entertains, Monsters University will satisfy. It's "scary" good!