Party Central

This Pixar short, which takes place not long after Monster University, concerns a frat party that Mike and Sully organize for their friends. The 5 minutes that this runs for has a nice premise for such length and provides a funny enough ending. Nice to hear the entire cast for MU here especially Billy Crystal and John Goodman as those characters I mentioned at the beginning of this review. Since I need 10 lines for this to be submitted on this site, I'll also mention when I watched this with my movie theatre-working friend, the auditorium lights were on for a few minutes which marred the experience a bit but by the time of the climax, it was dark enough and made the final gag such a great surprise! So on that note, me and my friend very much liked Party Central.

I LOVE this Short! So simple, college relatable for those who dorm away... maybe, very clever, everything about it was just AWESOME! Kind of makes me regret not going away to college. But given the circumstances... it's not that big of a deal. Regardless... LOVED THIS!!

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

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.

'PARTY CENTRAL': Three Stars (Out of Five)

The second Pixar animated short in the 'MONSTERS, INC.' film series. It takes place shortly after 'MONSTERS UNIVERSITY' and tells the story of Mike and Sully (once again voiced by Billy Crystal and John Goodman) helping their Oozma Kappa frat brothers throw a party. They come up with the plan of using a 'door station' to sneak into parties, at other fraternities, and steal guests and refreshments (while passing them through the bedroom of a sleeping couple). It also features the voice talents of actors Sean Hayes, Dave Foley, Charlie Day, Joel Murray, Julia Sweeney and Peter Sohn and was written and directed by longtime storyboard artist Kelsey Mann. It's 5 minutes long and plays in theaters before 'MUPPETS MOST WANTED'. I found it to be amusing enough but not up to par with what I usually expect from most Pixar short films. I have seen a lot worse animated movies though and I'm sure most fans of the 'MONSTERS, INC.' franchise will enjoy it.

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