Monsters University

   There's nothing more disappointing then a lackluster Disney Pixar movie. And sadly, despite some merits, Monsters University will leave you with a feeling, "Did this really need to be made?".

What's up? Monsters University is the prequel to Monsters Inc, it takes place during the days of Mike and Sullivan in college when they weren't the best of friends, in fact for a good duration of the movie they can't stand each other. There's also a dean of students out to get them, and a competition amongst other groups in the school in a Hunger Games like battle to determine who is the scariest group of monsters in school.

What's good? As always, Pixar delivers with the visuals in this film. Monsters University is just as physically attractive as the first entry, the colors are great, the movie is filled with tons of life and animation and I love the details given to each of the monsters. The creators even manage to make the universities look as realistic as possible, no easy feat when making a movie full of monsters.

I enjoyed the vocal performances as well. Billy Crystal & John Goodman have the same amount of life and energy as they did in Monsters Inc, they're having a blast and despite the actors not being seen together, they give their monsters a great sense of chemistry. Helen Mirren as their tight-ass dean also gives some good effort, delivering her lines with all the sinister pow you would need.

What the fuck? The biggest issue with Monsters University is that comparisons to Monsters Inc are inevitable, and in that case, Monsters University comes up short in every way. This entry feels about 10,000 times less creative, funny, and heartwarming then the first one. I just couldn't help but really question the need for a second entry, at times this really feels like it shouldn't have been released in theaters. There's just not a ton of reason why this needs to exist minus an opportunity at snagging some more cash.

Also unlike Monsters Inc, this entry clocks in at about 104 minutes and really doesn't seem like it should have been that long. There's just a sense of mediocrity throughout, I feel like the creators weren't trying as hard with this movie as they did with Monsters Inc.

Overall Monsters University is far from a bad movie, but considering the hype and the magic that was Monsters Inc, it really needed to be a lot stronger. Some beautiful animation and humorous scenes doesn't make up for an overall feeling of mediocrity and "I don't think this needed to be a sequel sequelitis" that many sequels/prequels fall under. Time to hit the books harder next time guys.

2/4