Monsters Inc is still one of my very favourites of the wonderful era of animated movies we are living through.
The script was smart, original, and genuinely funny. The characters were well put together, endlessly entertaining to look at, and – in Billy Crystal and John Goodman especially – beautifully well performed.
I went to see Monsters Inc in 2001 because it was my job to do so. And again at least two more times simply because I wanted to.
Monsters University doesn’t quite live up to Monsters Inc. But it does come darned close. We meet Sully and Mike as freshmen at college. They are there to train as “scarers”, the job that all monsters aspire to.
The film unfolds as a light tribute to the American college comedy, with all the familiar tropes in place, and also as a classic quest movie, with our heroes having to pass a series of fearsome examinations before they can emerge victorious.
If Monsters University has a weakness, it is that the story and structure are just a little too familiar and unadventurous. But for the characters, the design, the wit, and especially for a gorgeous and completely unexpected brassy and jazz inflected sound track, Monsters University is a very easy film to like immensely.
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (103 min)(G)
Directed by Dan Scanlon.
Starring Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi.
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