Monster's University

I have been wanting to see Monster's University since I first heard that they were making it.  I was definitely more excited to watch it than Liam (my 3 year old son) was.  He is never too keen on watching new things until you convince him to give it a try.  I definitely enjoyed the movie although it seemed almost more geared towards adults than children.  I would have liked to have seen more of little Mikey and added some of little Sully.  But as always there were some great lessons to be learned for older kids.

In case you know nothing about Monster's University it is a 2013 Computer animated 3D comedy children's film.  It is the prequel to the 2001 movie Monster's Inc.  It is the first prequel that Pixar has created to date and was their 14th full-length film.  This returns to our two friends Mike & Sully before they met when they were both studying at Monster's University to become the top scarers.  They start the movie out as rivals. 

It was produced by Pixar and released by Disney.  Disney had plans to make a sequel to Monster's Inc since 2005 but due to disagreements with Pixar, they tasked their Circle 7 Animation studio to make it.  An early draft of the film was worked on but with the purchase of Pixar by Disney in 2006 it put that film away.  A Pixar made sequel was confirmed in 2010, but they decided on making a Prequel instead in 2011.  Overall the film received positive reviews and was a box office success grossing $743 million against a $200 million budget.  The original sequel was set to come out in early November 2012 but had to be preponed due to coinciding with The Twilight Saga-Breaking Dawn Part 2.  One a prequel was decided on, it pushed everything back to 2013.




Monster's University features a wonderful voice acting cast to include:
Micheal "Mike" Wazowski-Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally, Analyze This, City Slickers)
James P. Sullivan "Sully"-John Goodman (Roseanne, Argo, Community, Saturday Night Live)
Randall "Randy" Boggs-Steve Buscemi (Reservoir Dogs, ConAir, Boardwalk Empire, 30 Rock)
Dean Hardscrabble-Helen Mirren (Red, The Queen, State of Play, Teaching Mrs. Tingle)
Done-Joel Murray (Mad Men, Two and a Half Men, Shameless, Dharma & Greg, Still Standing)
Terri-Sean Hayes (Will & Grace, Sean Saves the World)
Terry-Dave Foley (Hot in Cleavland, Dan Vs, How to Be A Gentleman, Will & Grace)
Art-Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Horrible Bosses, Pacific Rim, Third Watch)

Overall I have to say that this was a good standalone film.  When you compare it with it's predecessor Monster's Inc. which was such a phenomenal movie this one falls short of a 5 star rating.  I round it up to a 4 star because it is still good and fun to watch, but could have been better.  There were many great elements in the movie and Mike & Sully stayed in character.  I felt like almost every scene I had watched in previews was not featured in the actual movie such as Mike being turned into a disco ball by Sully.  It seems that the previews painted Sully out to be more of a bully to Mike than he was in the finished product and I am ok with that result but it always sucks when you are watching for certain parts and never seen them.  This film introduced a lot of fun new characters that brought a whole new element of "scary" to the monsters.  It did have a slightly darker tone than the original movie.  Once we got it started my son was definitely into it from the start and there are some great lessons on friendship and cheating and being excelling at what makes you unique.  I would definitely recommend this movie and would watch it again.

Here is the official website: monstersuniversity.com/edu/