So I just recently got back from holiday with some mates from university. Oh we had a good old time camping, and one day we decided to go into one of the local towns, King's Lynn, and ended up going to the cinema. Have to say I liked that cinema. Anyway, the film we went to see was Monsters University.
Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) dreams of going to Monsters University and graduating so that he can become a scarer. However his studies are interrupted by James "Sully" Sullivan (John Goodman), and the two become quick rivals as they survive the academic year.
In all fairness though, I really didn't care how Mike and Sully came to know one another. I've seen what great friends they've become in 'Monsters Inc' so I pretty much knew they were either good friends to begin with or they were cliched rivals. In actual fact I cared more about how they came to know Randall (Steve Buscemi), though I do feel this wasn't really given the time it needed.
With that aside the plot is somewhat old. For the most part you can tell what direction it's going in, it just feels like something you've seen before. It's all about the characters trying to find their own identity, but it doesn't really work because everyone is different; only the girl sorority that look like Barbie Dolls from Hell look the same and half the monsters have three eyes.
I'll give the film credit for having a great variety of monster designs, but that actually holds the film back in a way. While there are so many different designs, they're all quite unmemorable and uninspiring. It holds some comedy back because the jokes are so predictable, including the slug monster "hurrying" to class, and, ultimately, because the film plays it seriously, there aren't really that many fun moments or things which make it different to similar films. Shamefully I only really got into the film when the final major plot point came along. And out of all the monster designs, only two really stood out, which are Dean Abigail Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) and the Librarian; Dean Hardscrabble, who is this winged centipede-like creature, has an imposing and intimidating appearance and presence, while the Librarian, while her design is simple, it still has this menacing and dominating design.
The voice acting is great though, you can certainly feel the emotion, which you would expect from the likes of Crystal, Buscemi, Goodman, Nathan Fillion, and Helen Mirren. The comedy is good as well, there aren't any pointless pop culture references for adults and they haven't dumbed it down for kids, it's just, like the story, most of the jokes are more predictable than laugh-out-loud.
I'm not saying I didn't like the film, far from it, it's a good movie. I'm just saying it could have been so much better. It's funny, but could have been funnier, it has a good story, but it could have been great. I certainly liked the throwbacks...throwforwards...references to the first film, including a certain cameo, but as a standalone movie, it's just good. They could have spent more time on certain bits, but for what it is it's still pretty damn good.
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