For some lore on this review series
Monsters University is another new Pixar offering for me to watch. Now I was little harsh on Monsters INC but ultimately it was cute and good movie. So with that in mind I knew Monsters University was a prequel, apparently Pixar’s only prequel to date, and I went in to this one with a fair opened minded and measured exceptions.
So how did I find Monsters University?
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Greek Monsters
As previously mentioned Monsters University is a prequel. It’s about how Mike and Sully met in their first year of University and how their friendship went from rivals to a duo.
I think your overall enjoyment of this movie is going to depend on how much you like and enjoy 1980s college “greek-culture” type movies because that is what this movie is but with monsters. There is also the dynamic that Mike makes up for his lack of “being scary” with sheer determination and grit by studying whereas Sully relieved on his family name and looks.
The two are both in the “scare program” but are both kicked out after their first semester when they fail scaring 101 final, harsh. They then make a deal with the dean that if their frat wins the scare game they will allowed back into the “Scare School.”
This dynamic between Mike and Sully does give them more characterization and arcs however they do spend a good chuck on the movie being jerks. Also them meeting in collage is odd since Mike says in the first movie that Sully has been jealous of Mike’s good looks since the 4th grade. The inconsistency is really just an inconsistency. However there a lot puzzlements in this movies.
For example why is the scare 5 different scare levels for each one of the contestants in the final scare game challenge? Like on the narrative function part it makes sense, to clearly show that it was tamper with for Mike so they could win but in universe why?
Also I do question the role of scarers in the universe as they are actors/celebrities/sport-stars/intellectuals whose job is scare child as a source energy but they perform this job without an audience? Basically miners are venerated in the world of monster and they have take theory classes even though it seems more akin to applied methodology and it doesn’t matter because you can just audition at the company. So I guess it’s more like acting.
A Monster Moral, Maybe
Which brings us to the theme of the movie, or an understanding of a theme which is rather warped to a fair degree.
Throughout the whole movie Mike tries really hard to be a great scarer but he is not scary. Basically Mike can never be scary because he cannot go beyond his physicality to be scary. So the theme is that sometimes your dream can’t come true even through hard work. That success is not guaranteed if you lack natural talent. While this is compelling as thesis the movie kind of bungles this with its own plot.
The point of the Scare Program is that it teaches situational awareness and since the function of scaring is to gain scream energy it would be efficient to pair scarers with kids that find the individual monsters as scary otherwise wise bother hiring different types of monster, kind of what Mike said about how the each of the monster’s individual attributes are used for scaring children. Also this was explained with Sully as when he was being tested he failed because he started before the child scenario was given.
So the movie goes out of its way to explain the situational awareness behind scaring children and then ignore by saying it doesn’t matter because Mike isn’t scary. And it’s not clear how he isn’t scary. Is his looks or is that he over-thinking and that lead to him being not scary? Or does he just not have a loud enough roar? Charisma? What is it? The movie just say he’s not.
This all culminates during the lake scene where Mike realizes he’s a failure even though he went through a random door he wasn’t prepped to undertake. Whereas Sully is afraid of being a disappointment even though he was being arrogant because of his family name since day one. He seemed to have more unearned confidence than an inferiority complex.
In the end Mike and Sully work together to scare grown-up to go back to the monster world with Mike being more of a scare director/strategist and Sully does the actual scaring and roaring. Mike does have theoretical talent just not the face or size.
Then again as this movie functions as prequel so Mike could never be the scarer because he’s Sully’s assistant in Monsters Inc. Mike functionally has to be failure for the set-up to the first movie.
Final Thought Monsters
Monsters University isn’t going down as my favorite Pixar but passable as movie/prequel.
I just didn’t care for the cringe university plot, devolution of the characters, and the weird mixed messaging of the theme and by extension the world-building. I think Pixar may lean into some form of determinism a little too much. Or they tired of everyone who wants to be animator applying for a job at the studio when the main room is always an option or maybe it was at one point in time.
I did like Squishy and Art and I also like that Squish’s mom’s “tunes” are heavy metal.
