Kids Movie Review - Monsters University

You know, I am a pretty big fan of Pixar movies.  They have heart, laughter and some fantastic messages.  There are exceptions to this rule, such as Cars and Cars 2.  Now as for Monsters University...

Monsters University sees a young and identically faced Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) ready to start in the prestigious scare course at Monsters University.  It is established very early that he has been studying obsessively and knows all the theories of scaring.  He soon meets James P Sullivan (John Goodman) who comes from a long line of scarers and has plenty of natural talent, but doesn't feel the need to read the books.  Rivalry soon blooms and an accident during the exams sees both of them kicked out of the scare program. Their only hope is to join with the least scariest monsters on campus to try to win the university's scare games.

While an interesting take on the traditional american college movie it soon falls into the cliched nerds vs jocks and nerd/jock comes good storylines.  It is also missing two very important factors.  Heart and humour.  Technically it is superb, fantastically animated and great performances, but ultimately it is a by the numbers college flick that would rate as a sub-par teen flick if it was made back in the 80s.  I watched it with both my boys, who certainly fit in the target audience, and not one laugh was had.  There were some interesting scenes and a very well done sequence in the human world but none of it was funny.

I tried not to go into it expecting another Monsters Inc but inevitably comparisons need to be made.  This film has none of it's predecessors charm.  The character of Boo in the first movie really helped to polarise and focus the action and the story of friendship still has the capacity to melt the heart.  Let's not forget the underlying message of the advantages of clean alternative power either.  Without this extra depth Monsters University simply meanders from scene to scene and there is nothing to draw you in or help you relate to the characters.

Ultimately it appears that Monsters University, like the Cars franchise, is more about merchandising than building a story.  The fact that toys, books, colouring pads, yoghurt snacks, shampoo etc were available (and filling entire walls in supermarkets) weeks before the movie even launched certainly supports this argument. Here's hoping the next Pixar epic will focus on character and story first and let the merchandise follow through naturally.

But what of the target demographic, those insightful young minds who enjoy the colour and spectacle. Let's ask them shall we?

J(9) - "It was a bit funny.  The funny bit was the snail trying to run to class"

M(5) - "The pig bit was good, but I didn't laugh much"

So apparently two brief gag sequences were the highlights of the movie.

If you are eager to revisit the world of Mike and Sully then you'd probably be better off watching the original one then check this out once it gets home release.

In a word - Ka-ching