Making a prequel based on a film that was a huge success by a movie company that has a reputation for making some of the best animated films, is no walk around the park. Yet, this challenge was met gracefully by Disney when they released “Monsters University” the unexpected prequel to “Monsters Inc.”
It may have seemed like a stretch when Disney announced that the film would revolve around the two stars of “Monster’s Inc.” Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James “Sully” Sullivan’s (John Goodman) college experience, but this plot line worked well with the characters.
Which is a bit of surprise cause how exactly does a children’s movie company make a film that deals with an adult theme yet can successfully reach out to all groups? Well this is how they did it.
Mike and Sully both dream to be scarers when they enroll into their dream school, Monster’s University, both wanting the same career but both of them being different types of scarers. Unfortunately, Mike and Sully don’t hit it off well, at first , and because of certain circumstances they are forced to befriend each other and get out of sticky situations.
Disney’s magic and humor is sprinkled all over this film and though the college scenario may seem too grown up for Disney audiences they accomplish to bring up a question that any one at any age group can understand. What kind of person (or monster) am I?
The difficulty to stay true and honest to yourself is what ties this movie together. And when you see this, you realize why Disney chose this college theme. College students seems to be the age group most exposed to this question but what makes this film so great is that it reminds the audience that everybody goes through this stage, no matter what age.
Both Mike and Sully both experience this, but mostly Mike. Whereas “Monsters Inc.” showed Sully’s soft furry side, “Monster’s University” pays more attention to Mike’s soft side and the monster behind Sully’s future scaring coach.
Everything from this film makes sense as a prequel, especially how Mike and Sully turned out to not only be future business partners but also best friends. Though the adorable Boo from “Monsters Inc.” is, obviously, missing from this prequel, the prequel still has “Monsters Inc.”characters such as Sully and Mike’s future nemesis Randy (Steve Buscemi). However, there are plenty of new characters, like the adorable Squishy Squibbles (Peter Sohn), make this college experience so much more worthwhile.
Though Disney took a whole different turn with this college story it is actually greatly appreciated. This film will bring out the kids in all of us while still teaching us how great it is to be yourself. And there is no better lesson than that.
