It has become almost expected for Pixar movies to be looked down on. The former critical darling now seems to be spinning its wheels (sometimes literally) in recent years. While "Toy Story 3" received glowing reviews (although I found it very underwhelming), Pixar has since been releasing films that have been lightly torn apart by critics. Films like "Cars 2" and "Brave" were seen as derivative of other works both from Pixar and Disney. They were seen almost as cash-ins from a company that had all but proven you don't need promotional items to pull in the attention of critics and audiences. "Monsters University" unfortunately continues this streak of underwhelming films. While it is not a bad film, it pales in comparison to other Pixar films and even a great deal of the animated films Dreamworks and Fox are producing. It takes a story we already know and then mixes it with genre conventions that we already know to create a beautiful looking film that is unnecessary. It feels like the most visually-impressive straight-to-video film that was designed to sell "Monsters U" t-shirts rather than tell an interesting story.
"Monsters University" is a prequel to 2002's "Monsters Inc." Here were are reintroduced to Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal), a one-eyed monster who grew up with only one goal in mind: being a "scarer". "Scarers" are sent into the human world to capture the screams of startled children which are used to power the world of the monsters. The only way Mike knows to get into the "scaring" business is to attend, Monsters University, a college with classes on every aspect of adult monster life. Mike is a quick-learner who is constantly at the top of his class. The only problem is that Mike is not naturally scary, unlike fellow new student Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman). Sullivan comes from a family of "top scarers" and has a natural ability despite the fact that he has no motivation in studying. Soon Mike and Sullivan are in competition as they attempt to see who can be the best student at the university.
The original "Monsters Inc." was arguably the film when Pixar perfectly melded humor with emotion. It involved Mike and Sullivan dealing with Boo, a human child who had made it into the world of humans. It was a hilarious and original story that had a deep emotion core. Unfortunately "Monsters University" is not trying to make you feel anything at all. It is a piece of entertaining fluff that takes the genre conventions of "college films" and applies them to the world of monsters. A movie that deals with monsters using their ability to scare humans as day-to-day job is a novel and interesting idea for a film. Having these same monsters go through the process of frat initiations, being "popular", and studying hard is not a novel or interesting idea. It is a story more situated for a short animated piece or a "Muppet Babies"-esque television series. Here we are expected to simply care about Mike and Sullivan because we are familiar with their characters. Neither are the likable characters we knew from "Monsters Inc". Mike is a bookish straight-man character who has no strong character to work off of while Sullivan is a jock who we can't root for because of his attitude. It is a movie about characters who we are supposed to hope will succeed all while we don't really care if they manage to achieve anything. Even if we hadn't known from "Monsters Inc." that they will succeed, it would be difficult to hope or care about these characters.
The problem that Pixar movies seem to have these days is that they seemingly "have" to hit specific points. We need an underdog character (Wall-E, Princess Merida from "Brave", Remy from "Ratatouille). We need a stubborn or cocks character who learns a lesson (Buzz Lightyear, Lightning McQueen). We need a cast of supporting characters who are voiced by recognizable actors yet we can't exactly remember their names. We need to laugh until we are expected to feel emotional in the very last act. All of this these tropes are not comforting. They just point out how by-the-book a company that had been so adventurous in the past has become. A film like "How to Train Your Dragon" are taking these ideas and running with them in interesting ways. Pixar can no longer simply repeat what has worked in the past. They cannot just produce films with characters or character types audiences are familiar with and make their way to the bank thanks to critical and audience love. We have seen this all before and there is no reason for us to want to see it again.
All these negatives aside, "Monsters University" might be the most visually-beautiful film that Pixar has put out. Pixar is at its best when it is dealing with non-human characters in a bright atmosphere. The animation of the monsters and the college campus is nothing short of amazing. I found myself tuning out of the story and dialogue and just watching the slight details such as the rusting of a college bus. It almost seems as if it the locations were filmed in live-action and the monsters were digitally inserted later. It is the perfect blending of cartoonish elements and natural and believable animation. I can only assume this high level of work will continue in future Pixar productions.
"Monsters University" is more fun than the last few Pixar films. It has Mike and Sullivan taking part in interesting competitions which are mostly original and usually funny. The supporting cast also goes a long way to getting laughs. Charlie Day of "Horrible Bosses" appears as a Muppet-like monster who can't seem to control himself. If you enjoyed his character in "Bosses" or in "Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia" you will no doubt laugh at this G-rated version of his "Wild Card!" character. Joel Murray from "Mad Men" and last year's "God Bless America" is a welcome surprise as a non-traditional student who has gone back to college when his sales career crashed. These two characters go a long way to helping this film although they definitely can't rescue it.
It is unfortunate that Pixar has created some of not only the best animated films of the last decade but also some of the best films period. It makes it all the more disappointing when they make a film that is unsurprising and relatively fluff-filled. While "Monsters University" is not a bad film, it comes nowhere near what we expect from the name Pixar. It is predictable, underwhelming, and even occasionally boring. These are three adjectives that would have never been connected with Pixar. Here is hoping that Pixar sits down and creates some interesting and original ideas. Until then, we have our BluRay copies of the original films around to remember what once was and what could be again.
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