Monsters University.
The first thing you notice about this film is that yes it is the latest film from Pixar which of course already makes you want to watch it as you know it'll be great. But lets backtrack abit as we all know 'Cars 2' wasn't the greatest of successes as the ratings for it were really low and showed that Pixar was indeed fallible when it came to filmmaking. I have to say that this film is the total opposite of 'Cars 2' and is going to be a definite hit with people as who can resist the comedy duo we all fell in love with in 'Monsters Inc' of Mike and Sully.
Obviously if you've lived under a rock you won't know that this is a prequel to 'Monsters Inc', set ten or so years before the duo even met you first see Mike as a youngster getting off a school bus on a school trip at the Monsters Inc scare factory. A wide eyed Mike then enters one of the doors and impresses a scare monster and gains a hat and vows to become a scarer.
Fast forward a few years and Mike is getting off another school bus but this time he is a college student and looking forward to learning how to be the best scarer in the monster world. As Mike and his room-mate Randall start classes they soon meet the ever so relaxed and all round party guy James P Sullivan who has the attitude that he's got nothing to worry about.
As situations take a turn for the worse Mike and Sully join forces with the campus rejects and join their fraternity Oozma Kappa to compete in the scare games. As the group of six misfit students take on the scare games they soon realise they have bitten off more than they can chew. With the relationship between Mike and Sully still not becoming anything but amicable the group must learn to take advantage of their skills and try to work together. Will the group pull together and help save Mike and Sully? what will happen to their friendship? and how does it all end for Oozma Kappa?
With an ending that definitely stays true to the Pixar ethos that has run throughout their films in the past it is a heart warming story of friendship and how to make the best of any situation. It's interesting to see how Mike and Sully became the best of friends and also see how other characters like Randall change and become evil. Seeing a young tiny Mike and how his and Sully's furr and skin change in colour and how they age is clever and interesting to see on a big screen.
The animation is of course beyond incredible and you can tell Pixar spend alot of time working on textures, liquids, reflection, shadow and brightness to really make the characters pop and impress. With the setting being at a college you are able to see so many new and varied monsters that live in the monster world and see how they develop over the film. Of course the only downside for me is that their is no mention or image of little Boo from the first 'Monsters Inc' film which is a shame but obviously she wouldn't have been born yet.
A clear triumph in my eyes from Pixar another strong emotive filled film that will have you hooked from the start. One downfall I think was a little bit too rushed and just thrown at the end is how Mike and Sully became to be at Monsters Inc and how they finally got their jobs working on the scare floor. A bit more consideration could have been taken into showing it abit more on screen as people might have thought it was the end credits.
8/10.
