Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Monsters University


RATING: C-


I honestly wasn't that opposed to the idea of a Monsters Inc prequel--at least not as much as I was to the idea of a sequel (considering that the story really ends there). I certainly had some hopes for this one, especially since it was coming right off the heels of their first true flop in Brave, but imagine my horror when I walked out of the theater realizing that formerly immortal Pixar had made two straight flops.

Now, first off let me explain something about what's wrong with this whole thing in particular that already makes the movie a huge discontinuity in the franchise, in a way. Now, we know that in this movie James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski meet, right? Major problem with that: back in the first movie, Mike says this line to Sulley: "You've been jealous of my looks since the fourth grade, pal."

That right there should be everybody's huge warning that there is some discontinuity going on here. Remember though, Pete Docter's not in on the whole thing. Dan Scanlon is making his directorial debut here. Clearly he didn't do his research on the first movie. Now there's another point which seems a bit out of line with the way the original movie works.

Dean Hardscrabble, the rather overbearing headmistress of Monsters University, says at one point, "Scariness is the true measure of a monster. If you're not scary, what sort of a monster are you?" Um. Grocery store seller? Sushi chef? CDA agent? Receptionist? Or you could be one of those guys that unloads/loads all the canisters/works elsewhere in the factory! Those are all respectable jobs and this isn't really the only part of the movie that implies that if you're not a Scarer--or even an assistant--then you are a failure as a monster. This is like... what?!

Now, I still could've gotten past all that to some degree if not for some of the other major gripes I have about this film.

In this movie that Mike Wazowski is attempting to be a Scarer in college, but we know that he's better  and being an assistant than being scary--something that he's really not at all. But the characters in this movie, perhaps in an uninspired attempt to be realistic, never give him a chance at all. Honestly, the movie ends up being kind of depressing at times--not to mention the bullying/harassment that occurs fairly often during the movie--something that I'm not a fan of watching, even if it's perhaps realistic to some degree.

Essentially, that's the gist of the plot line that can be spoken of out with giving away spoilers: Mike Wazowski goes to college to be a Scarer. Meets Sulley, who is also training to be a Scarer--who has overconfidence issues for much of the film. They both basically end up trying to find loopholes to stay in the scare program the entire film, and end up in a competition against the other monsters for their college membership.

There's not really much in the way of twists and turns or anything like that--not until the very end, but that's where the hugest problems perhaps are. The last 20 minutes make very little sense, in one way by completely defying the laws of logic so badly that even my pretty good ability to suspend disbelief is unable to comprehend it, and then by taking a turn at the end of the film that basically invalidates its existence almost even more than the discontinuities did. See more in the spoiler alert section...

(Spoiler alert!)

Let me pose this question: is it possible, in the Monsters Universe, to open a door to the Monster World *from* the human world with enough scream energy? No. No it is not. And yet they do it, thus defying the laws of logic completely. I'm usually pretty good about suspension of disbelief as long as it makes sense to some degree, and this scenario just makes absolutely no sense at all.

Furthermore, Sulley and Mike are eventually expelled from Monsters University. Okay, fine, but then how do they get to their eventual life at Monsters Inc? Uh...by starting out there as mailmen and working their way to the top.

I'm sorry, but that just makes no sense. They appear to make a big deal out of suggesting that you need a Scarer major of some sort to be able to be one at Monsters Inc, and then they just throw that out the window, making the film seem all the more ridiculously pointless.

And you know what *would* have made sense? Going to rival school Fear Tech instead, which is referenced more than once in the movie. They could've just gone there instead and used their new teamwork skills they had learned to make them the best Scarer team ever. It would've made much more sense.

(End of spoiler alert.)

Admittedly, though, it's not *all* bad. There are a few good laughs to be had amidst some of the more depressing parts and the confusing parts. My personal favorite is the brief yet hilarious football scene. The visuals are really good, and the artists went really creative with the type of monsters again, just like with the first film. And it may appeal to those simply wanting to revisit the Monsters world.

But nevertheless, the feeling cannot be shaken. Monsters University is an overall unnecessary prequel that invalidates its own existence multiple times, and also punches you in the gut a couple times--and later the head. (The sad thing is, it's still a little better than Brave.) The only people I can see really enjoying this film are the ones who just really want to go back to the Monster World that badly, in which case give it a crack, but you're still better off renting it. I can hardly recommend this to anyone else.

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