Monsters University

A prequel to one of Pixar's most beloved films, Monsters Inc. In all honesty, I wasn't looking forward to this one too much. A sequel would have been a better option. Like the Toy Story movies, it should take place a long while later, and Mike and Sully should meet back up with a teenage Boo or something. Boo was the soul of that movie, and, of course, in a prequel, Boo can't exist. Instead, we get the story of how Mike and Sully met in college. The story is made up of a ton of college movie clichés in the Monsters world. And it's fine. Not great, nothing really special, but it's very enjoyable and the animation is gorgeous. The last time I revisited Monsters Inc., the animation seemed a little primitive, but Pixar has more than perfected it now, and I loved seeing the wonderful monster designs. Steve Buscemi, the villain from the first film, is prominent in the cast again. Other famous cast members include Nathan Fillion, Sean Hayes, Dave Foley, Charlie Day, Aubrey Plaza and Alfred Molina. The most memorable new character is Dean Hardscrabble, played by Helen Mirren. The design, kind of a centipede dragon, is extremely cool and actually pretty creepy.

Monsters University is the prequel to Monsters inc., a wildly popular animation by Pixar. It's basically a college movie set in the monster world, but with a nice deviation from the standard.

The good. Still the same incredibly interesting world with all its colors, fantastic creatures, and quirks. Interesting story, especially for the twist. Great animation, as usual. Easily enjoyable by adults. Perfect ending. Excellent voice acting.

The bad. Lots of college movie, underdogs, and jocks versus nerds clichés.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one too.

The cruddy trailer hardly filled me with hope for this belated prequel to Monsters, Inc., and the relatively laugh-free first thirty minutes did little to change my mind; however, once Mike and Sully and their Oozma Kappa fraternity brothers enter the Scare Games, the film really picks up and the laughs start to come thick and fast. By the time the end credits were rolling, Monsters University had given me lots of giggles and even a few genuine belly laughs and I'd completely altered my opinion: the oft-used 'under-dogs do good' plot may not be as fresh as the original, but overall I reckon the film is well worth watching.

Some of the best moments are clever one-liners and subtle fleeting visual gags which could go unseen, or over the head of younger viewers, but that gives the film repeat value; I hope to catch even more funny stuff the second time around after I proudly add the DVD to my Pixar collection.

A very respectable 8/10 (If there had been more funny moments in the first half-an-hour or so, this would have been right up there with Pixar's finest).

Monsters University: the prequel that no one asked for, but everyone will watch. It would appear that Pixar has recently run out of original ideas and has resorted to making sequels and prequels of older more successful movies (Cars 2, Planes, Monsters U and Finding Dory). That being said, the film was actually pretty decent and was rather watchable and enjoyable. The film had multiple unexpected twists, which avoided having an all too predictable ending. It also explained many of the features of its sequel, like Randall's rivalry with Mike and Sully and the Abominable Snowman.

Reviving the voice talents of Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi and adding Helen Mirren and Charlie Day, amongst others, this film stayed within the universe that the original movie had created, however in comparison failed to live up to its predecessor's greatness.

Having really enjoyed Monsters Inc when I was younger, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that there was going to be a prequel released.

It was interesting to see how all the characters had met and what their friendships were like in the earlier days. The film has a good simple plot and is perfect for the whole family to enjoy as there is also some funny parts as well as heartwarming moments. It was great that Mike and Sulley (the two main characters) had the same voice-overs as the original film, this made it feel more authentic.

Overall I really enjoyed this film, but then who doesn't love a good Disney Pixar film?

8/10