MOVIE REVIEW “MONSTERS UNIVERSITY” [4.5/5] ... bit.ly/14SDuyf Welcome back Pixar!!! After last year’s massive mis-step “Brave”, it’s great to see you return to what you do like no other studio … making movies with a distinct purpose, a hell of a heart & both eyes (sorry Mike Wazowski) firmly fixed on entertaining the masses. After the runaway success of “Toy Story 2”, in 2001 Pixar introduced us to Mike (Billy Crystal), his best buddy James P. ‘Sulley’ Sullivan (John Goodman) & their home - the city of Monstropolis. A city I might add, like no other … a city full of ‘monsters’ whose entire power grid was generated by scaring human children. A city who’s top ‘scarers’ were Sulley & Mike. And again credit to Pixar not going down what could have been a pretty easy (& probably not nearly as entertaining) route with a straight sequel. Instead, they’ve gone back to where both Sulley, the furry blue giant & Mike, the one-eyed, green guy met & learnt all there is to know about scaring … at Monsters University. So imagine if you can a G-rated, Pixar version of “Animal House” meets “Revenge of the Nerds”; well this is it. Essentially a knowing parody of classic American college stereotypes - the scary Dean (Helen Mirren), the warring fraternities, the nerdy geeks - Monsters University is a treasure trove of fun. And then throw in the sizable personality clash between laid-back, know-it-all Sulley & anal-retentive, super-studious Mike & you’ll chuckle from go to wo. Not a millisecond of screen time is wasted - with multiple viewings probably required to take in the plethora of colour, action, heart & nuance. My only slight criticism of “Uni” is its 110-minute running time might be stretch for some under 6’s, whereas the slightly cutesier storyline & briefer 90 minutes of “Inc.” were probably a tad more ‘junior-friendly’. But all-in-all, I reckon “Uni” pips “Inc.” at the post in a photo finish. Sensational.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:09:04 +0000