Monsters University - Pixar Flix Aren't Just for Kids

Pixar is magic.  Over and over again they come up with characters and stories that are fun for audiences of hugely varying ages.  The worlds they create are beautiful and imaginative.  Their characters are original and relatable.  Out of fourteen films, there has only been one dud (Cars 2).  A batting average of 0.929 isn’t too shabby!  In my opinion, Pixar is the standard when it comes to animated movies.

I think that part of the appeal is that they are accessible and enjoyable to a wide variety of audiences.  They are bright, colorful, fun, and funny to little kids.  They are cool enough for teenagers.  And they’re clever enough to keep adults interested and entertained.  They truly are family movies.

Monsters University was no different.

Here’s why this movie appealed to me as a more “mature” viewer:

1.       It gave me credit for having seen Monsters, Inc.  It rewarded me with plenty of in-jokes that would only be truly appreciated by someone who was familiar with the first movie.  Yet it was still inviting to people for whom Monsters U was their first foray into the Monster’s world.  There was enough reminder of (or introduction to) the concept of the Monsters without being too much.

2.       It took character stereotypes and made them funny.  This isn’t too much of a spoiler (I hope), since the title of the movies is “Monsters University”, but the setting is largely on a college campus, with all that entails: professors, various types of students, roommates, and fraternities and sororities.  The concept of the jock, the frat boy, the nerd, etc. aren’t new or original, but they were so well done in this movie that they worked!  And there were some other characters that weren’t quite as typical, too, to balance it out.

3.       The attention to detail and the set and character designs were gorgeous!  As I’ve said before, part of the pleasure of watching animated movies for me is the look of the film.  CGI movies have come a long way since Toy Story was released in 1995.  Pixar has always been on the forefront of the industry in terms of animation quality.  Watching Monsters, Inc. on an HD TV last night, I saw that the characters and the sets didn’t mesh as well as they did on older, less advanced screens.  That wasn’t the case with Monsters U.  From the lighting to the backgrounds, the textures and the colors, this was eye candy from start to finish.

4.       One of my pet peeves with a lot of “kids” movies is that the message of the story is heavy handed, immature, or even faddish.  With the exception of WALL-E’s overt environmentalist slant, Pixar has avoided that.  That trend continued in Monsters U.  The themes were relatable and well integrated with the story.

There were other things that I really liked about the movie, but some fall into the realm of spoilers, which, despite the title of this blog, I’m trying to avoid.  Hopefully it’s already understood that this is a prequel, and so it takes place before Monsters, Inc.  Related to that, it was fun to see the development of the relationship between Mike and Sully, the two main characters.  I was also pleased with the subtle changes to their appearances to make them look younger.  The voice acting was great!  The cast did an amazing job.  Helen Mirren brought her character to life in a way that, even though the character is an antagonist, made her one of my favorites.

Monsters University was well worth the price of admission.  It is worthy of the Pixar label.  And it is another of summer 2013’s great sequels.