Friends Until The End

BeautifulBallad attended an advance screening of Monsters University earlier this week. The prequel to the 2001 Pixar hit Monsters, Inc., Monsters University focuses on the relationship of Sully and Mike and how these two become the scaring duo we see in Monsters, Inc. Monsters University is a well rounded prequel, with both familiar faces and new faces, an excellent underdog story, and a whole lot of heart.

Monsters University is truly the story of Mike Wazowski, the underdog student in the School of Scaring. He’s book smart and a hard worker. He can analyze the fears of children and come up with the appropriate technical approach in seconds. He’s nerdy and a bit of a wallflower, but lovable as ever. Sully, on the other hand, is the lazy student who spends most of his time partying and goofing off, hoping beyond hope to get through the School of Scaring on his family name alone. The film revolves around the Scaring Games, an intense team competition to see which monsters are the scariest and Mike places a bet on the team’s outcome.

Monsters University follows Mike and Sully as their relationship evolves from mutual dislike to begrudging cooperation to true and lasting friendship. The journey they face is mirrored in the journey their ragtag fraternity, Oogma Kappa, undertakes in the Scaring Games. Mike and Sully’s fraternity friends are classic misfits, and are both endearing and hilarious. Although the ultimate outcome of the film is rather obvious, the journey to get there is great fun.

Visually, Monsters University does not disappoint. Pixar’s animation, as usual, is truly spectacular and the sheer amount of creatures created and rendered for this film is phenomenal. The 3-D effects were fun and well integrated throughout the film.

I would definitely recommend checking out Monsters University, especially if you are a fan of Monsters, Inc.– you won’t be disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was great summer fun!

Grade: A-

Photo Source: Walt Disney Studios