Party Central

This is a Monsters University short. The Oozma Kappa frat is having a party but nobody showed up. It's Mike and Sulley to the rescue. They have brought along two Door Stations to steal party goers from the Roar Omega Roar frat party. It's a rocking time and then Squishy's mother arrives to show how to truly use the Door Stations for a party trick.

This is fun and this is fun franchise. It's not complicated. There are loads of gags. Oh by the way, it's fun.

Party Central is a fun animated short shown in the cinemas with Muppets Most Wanted and takes place after the events of Monsters University.

Mike and Sulley go to Monsters University to see how their Oozma Kappa fraternity brothers are doing. The answer is not too well as no one has shown up for their first party.

Mike and Sulley liven it up using a borrowed portal door to sneak into the party at the rival fraternities and steal its food and guests to get their party started and then to keep it swinging.

They regularly go through the wardrobe doors of a married couple's bedroom that disturbs them and leads to a hilarious end credit gag.

As with other Pixar shorts the quality of the animation and voice work is very good and kids will find this enjoyable.

Mike's New Car has a lot more charm but this is goofy short that makes get use of the film's internal logic. Talk about taking a concept to its conclusion. It is funny enough to check out.

I don't really approve of the conceit of this short film. The story goes that Mike and Sully want to use a trick to get people to a frat party that is completely dead. They use Monster's Inc doors to lure partygoers from a raging party into the lame frathouse. First of all, aren't there restrictions on how doors can be used? Wouldn't doors be off limits to students? Or did this take place after Mike and Sully became interns, in which case, wouldn't they still be in trouble for using work doors after hours? Secondly, they also steal food and drinks from the other party. And third, their process escalates until they end up disrupting a human family in a very unethical way. So really, this story idea should never have been approved, and I will expect Pixar to redact this entry from their official output. They will also need to find a way to provide reparations to viewers, as this short has been widely available for 10 years now.

Saw 'Party Central' for many reasons. Love animation, and always have done as a child, will be forever grateful towards it for helping me relax when very much needed. Love Pixar and a vast majority of their films, in my mind 'Monsters Inc' is one of their best if not quite one of my all-time favourite animated films. Really like to love their theatrical short films and the feature-related shorts are fun enough though don't put them on the same level personally.

One of their feature related shorts, 'Party Central' is enjoyable enough but nowhere near a Pixar high point to me. Being still very well made and characterised, but an example of the Pixar feature-related shorts that doesn't quite have the same amount of charm and heart of the feature film. Of the feature related shorts, 'Party Central' is neither among the best or worst and fits very comfortably in the middle. Which is a solid position to be in. Very like the other 'Monsters Inc' related short 'Mike's New Car'.

'Party Central' is a bit hectic in terms of pacing, due to having a lot of content in a short, perhaps a little too short, period of time.

It's not really going to remembered for its story either, which is somewhat lost amongst the physical humour. While it's very funny and colourful, it doesn't have the same amount of heart that 'Monsters Inc' has.

The physical humour though is very funny, timed beautifully and looks great in the animation. Just as good is the verbal comedy, which is as sharp and witty as one expects. There is more than enough energy and it is a party that one would be happy to be at. Mike and Sulley are still the great characters and double act that they were in 'Monsters Inc' and the supporting characters are colourful and amusing (if not near as memorable as those in 'Monsters Inc'.

Voice acting is very good, wonderful in the case of Billy Crystal and John Goodman. Can't imagine anybody else voicing Mike and Sulley. The music captures the party mood adeptly, but one of 'Party Central's' best assets is the animation. It is beautifully vibrant and rich in background detail, have also always admired how real Sulley's furry character design looks.

Altogether, enjoyable short. 7/10