Monsters University

                Back in 2001, Pixar gave us “Monsters Inc,” a film that shows the lives of the monsters we fear at night, as part of their day-to-day job. Its business is to get kids screaming so they can power the city, but the irony is they think kids are contagious. Everything has been how it should, until one day Mike Wazowski and James Sullivan come across a child that has crossed over into their world, and now have to get her back in before authorities find out and shut down the factory, leaving the city without power. This was made during the golden days of Pixar; when they were still getting into recognition right after “Toy Story” and “A Bug’s Life,” and became one of the films people think of when they hear Pixar.

                It was then when Pixar became Disney’s go-to animation studio, they started to go into development on new films to their popular works beforehand…why “The Incredibles” isn’t getting one, I still don’t know, but I digress. Now when I heard “Monsters Inc.” was getting another film, I was really hoping to see a sequel and get a continuation of where the last film had left off, where Boo and Sully meet after many years. I would have loved to see what it would have been like if Boo came back to the monster world, then some conspiracy would go off between humans finding out more about the monster world and so forth.

Instead, we get a prequel about how Mike and Sully came to where they were before the first film. But the real question is, was it still worth it? Well…let’s dive in.

“Monsters University” starts off with Mike as a little kid, who sees the scarers of Monsters Inc. do their day to day routine, while on a field trip. He’s inspired by one of them, and says that Monsters University is the way to go, if he wants to be the right scarer. While there, he studies his hardest to be the best, while in competition with James Sullivan, who comes from a family of some of the best scarers. When the two are kicked out of the scaring program, they have to compete in the Scare Games with some of the weakest of the university, if they wish to get back in and finally fulfill their dreams of being scarers.

With that said, there are plenty of things that do work in the film. The relationship between Mike and Sully is investing, as well as capture the strong charm of the original film. Billy Crystal and John Goodman really have made these characters their own, much in the same vain Tim Allen and Tom Hanks made Buzz and Woody their own. The supporting cast was enjoyable as well, from Steve Buscemi as a younger Randall, to the members of Oozma Kampa. The strong elements come out of the relationships between the characters and how dedicated they’re putting their all into it by the end of the competition.

Does it have problems? Yes. With this being a prequel, this film has all the problems that come from it all. We’ve seen the first film, so we know that Mike isn’t going to be a scarer, so we’re just waiting for that point to where we see him make that decision. Not only that, but we also see that there are some problems made with the connections made to the original, like how Mike and Sully meet for the first time in college in this movie, where as the first film said they met in grade school. Mistakes like and the added little references that try to connect the two films do get distracting.

However, the more I watch it, the more I enjoy it a little bit more. Is it the best continuation Pixar has done? No, but it's still pretty good. If you got the chance, I say go and give it a watch. "Monsters University" does have a lot to like about it, and if you love the first film, then you'll enjoy this one.

Rating: 8/10