Yesterday, a staggering 12 year wait came to a close for me in my life. Looking around in the theatre, I realised that many in the audience weren't even 12 themselves, and in truth I felt old. The sense of nostalgia that was felt by those alive when the original flick came out was evident through laughter and squeals of delight when characters from Inc. made cameos in this movie, and I suppose that the only sad thing was that those new to the franchise wouldn't have understood these ingenious crowd pleasers at all.
Surprisingly, this is a much more Mike orientated movie than I previously thought...
The film begins with a baby Mike wishing to be a scarer. During a school trip to Monsters Inc. itself, Mike decides that his dream is to become the world's best scarer. To do this, he must attend and succeed at Monsters University.
The story is not as basic as it may first seem. Mike and Sully start out as arch-enemies, with the original villain Randy becoming Mike's nerdy roommate in a neat twist.
When you compare the characters from this new movie to the original, it is clear how animation has come on in leaps and bounds in the last decade. From the more vibrant colours to the way every single extra is animated with such detail; this movie is a feat of CGI animation for Pixar. Infact, even though Disney Pixar tick off another texture that they can successfully animate with each new film (Nemo = water, MI = fur, Cars = metal etc), it is only in the sequels that it is obvious how something so good can be made so much more attractive.
The mother of Oozma Kappa's Squishy is my favourite character. She always provides a laugh out loud moment during the more serious scenes of the film, and is impossible to hate. The Oozma Kappa team themselves are slightly irritating at first, but grew on me as the film's story progressed, and also provide humour for the adults aswell as the kids. The humour for all ages approach that Pixar, and later Dreamworks' Shrek series adopted is now a staple for most animated gems, and so there will be no snoring Dads during showings of this film.
The new ensemble in MU are made up of incredibly well
thought out characters that are a delight to watch...
Where most summer animations have to fight to be noticed, the Pixar name alone will bring in viewers. This is a great movie to see for all the family, and even for the teenager who used to adore Boo and Sully's antics when they were 4 or 5. My only regret is that I didn't see it in 3D. I'm not sure if the real D glasses improve the movie or not, but there were certain sequences involving a certain Mrs Dean Hardscrabble that made me wish I'd spent that bit more on a 3D ticket!
This film is a real treat for all ages and I cannot recommend it more highly, despite a slow start.
9 . 8
OUT OF TEN Reviewed by James Green
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