Monsters University

Argh, a few days after I went with the kids but I eventually have time to rattle off a few words…

“You don’t study scaring, you just do it.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Prequel time as Mike and Sully meet up for the first time prior to events in the classic Monsters Inc.

See it if you like: PIXAR films

Once again I visit the cinema on little sleep due to a teething infant. This was a movie I’d been looking forward to since I had seen the trailers. It’s a nice change to see a prequel rather than a sequel as well.

First up, though, the attached “short” entitles The Blue Umbrella. A little more heart-warming than the earlier shorts which were nice and funny, and the visuals are stunning. It took me a few seconds to realise I was watching a cartoon rather than a film. It didn’t outstay its welcome, and the kids weren’t sitting there asking me where the monsters had got to, so that’s fine.

And the main feature. Well, it is as I said a prequel. It’s the story of Mike’s aspirations to be a “scarer” and Sully’s expectations that he would be able to wing it based on his family history. Of course, things don’t go to plan and they have to face a series of challenges to become accepted by the university and the Scaring course tutors.

It’s a well-written story, and leads very well into it’s precursor. A few of the characters you’ll be familiar with from Monsters Inc. make an appearance, but not so many as get silly. The way relationships change from this film to the next are quite interesting.

The best bit for me was the ending – it wasn’t what you would expect. As per the rules for my blog, though – no spoilers! I gather there is a post-credit sequence but we didn’t stay for it. I’ve looked it up and if you have the patience it could be worst parking your backside for five minutes. Not easy when you’re with kids though!

Overall, it wasn’t bad. The kids enjoyed it and it’s a good story. It wasn’t as good as the original, in my opinion, but I really appreciated the sideways step for the plot. Far better than just trying to make more of the same.