Susan Granger’s review of “Monsters University” (Disney/Pixar)
When “Monsters Inc.” (2001) teamed Billy Crystal with John Goodman, Disney/Pixar knew they had a winner. Now they’re together again in this generic prequel, showing the early days when Mike (Crystal) and Sully (Goodman) met at college. While “Monster’s Inc.” was Sully’s story, this is more about Mike.
When Mike Wazowski was very young, he encountered his first Scarer on a school field trip to the Monsters Inc. factory and vowed to be one of the world’s greatest Scarers when he grew up. But when Mike enters Monsters University, he comes up against mighty James “Sully” Sullivan, the cocky, slacker scion of a legendary line of Scarers. When their competitive antics get out of control, they’re both expelled from the Scaring program by Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren). To redeem themselves, they overcome their self- destructive rivalry and assemble a ragtag band of other outcasts from the Oozma Kappa fraternity to work together and gain acceptance at the annual “Scare Games,” in which sororities and fraternities compete to see who is best at frightening children.
While their cinematic chemistry still works, it’s a formulaic, completely predictable, slobs vs. snobs buddy film. Written by Robert L. Baird, Daniel Gerson and director Dan Scanlon, it doesn’t come anywhere near scaling the bold, imaginative narrative and visual heights of Pixar Animation’s “Toy Story,” “Wall-E” or “Ratatouille.” Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining summer diversion, introducing crazy Art (Charlie Day) two-headed Terri (Sean Hayes)/Terry (Dave Foley), cute Squishy Squibbles (Peter Sohn) and his ever-present frathouse mother (Julia Sweeney). Plus there’s young, nerdy Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi) and Don Carlton (Joel Murray), a middle-aged salesman who evokes memories of Chris Farley’s “Saturday Night Live” motivational speaker.
As always, Randy Newman’s musical score is filled with memorable tunes. And attached to the feature is Saschka Unseld’s exquisite, engaging short, “The Blue Umbrella,” about a blue male bumbershoot enamored with a red female one.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Monsters University” is a stunning, if simplistic 7, an amusing comedy that emphasizes teamwork and the value of friendship.
