Monsters University (2013)

Without question, Pixar has the best track record in the history of an animated film studio. Even Disney, the founding father of feature animation has released a great many clunkers. Pixar, however, has never released an unpopular movie, even after 14 movies and 18 years. The studio also has a unique history of providing family-friendly entertainment that remains fresh and cool. Nearly every child, teen and adult I know is fond of Pixar and makes an effort to see their movies. If you really think about it, that’s an incredible achievement.

Monsters University continues Pixar’s tradition of great filmmaking. Studio regulars John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Pete Doctor have handed the reigns over to first-time Pixar director Dan Scanlon, who also co-wrote. The final product may be one of the less entertaining and amusing pictures in the Pixar canon, but it is admirable nonetheless. Taking place before the hit movie Monsters, Inc, this film again shows us the monster world where professional scarers harvest the screams of children to use as energy. The main stars are Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal) and James Sullivan (John Goodman), who are kicked out of the scaring program at their college for fighting during an examination. In order to regain their place in study, they team up with a group of misfits in an attempt to win the Scare Games. This leads to numerous episodes in which our heroes must battle opposition from the winged, centipede-like dean, the wrath of a five-stories tall librarian and, of course, bullying from the cool kids.

The narrative of Monsters University is much less creative than its predecessor and falls into some predictable territory. The decision to make a prequel seems odd at first, especially considering the added age of its vocal stars. It can’t be helped that upon first hearing the voices of Crystal and Goodman, one immediately pictures their current appearance in the mind, briefly marring the success of their voices belonging to young characters. However, both actors are so remarkably convincing to the extent that you easily forget their real-life personas. The story is unfortunately too episodic and typical for my tastes, making too many obvious choices when it could have taken more unique paths. It is an unquestionably entertaining film, regardless, and kids shouldn’t have any problem sitting still.

The real star here is the computer animation, which has been gradually perfected to a point of almost life-like realism. Note that this is a different kind of animated reality than the useless and garish motion-capture efforts of The Adventures of Tintin. The Pixar technicians have achieved a great balance. There would be no point to an animated film that looked identical to real life. This movie creates a fantasy world that would be impossible to film, but does so with such a careful attention to details that it becomes its own reality. The appearance of texture is perhaps the greatest achievement here, masterfully created with new technology that adds photorealistic lighting and depth to the images. It is stunning to witness. That is why Monsters University overcomes any faults in the imagination department. It is a good-hearted, colorful, beautiful movie that was made with the same innovative desires that put computer animation on the map to begin with. And that’s why Pixar movies are so much better than other animated efforts. They are never cheap, dumb or unnecessarily nasty and they always push themselves farther with each film. The results speak for themselves.

8/10  

Side Note: An incredible short film called The Blue Umbrella plays before the feature. Its images look so realistic that it is easy to believe that it was created with a blend of live action and animation. It wasn’t. Everything is animated.