MONSTERS UNIVERSITY
G
104 Minutes
Director: Dan Scanlon
Writers: Dan Scanlon, Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird
Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi
'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.' -Desiderius Erasmus (1500)
CAST (These actors did the voices of the characters. They didn't appear as themselves in cartoon form.)
Billy Crystal...Mike
John Goodman...Sullivan
Steve Buscemi...Randy
Helen Mirren...Dean Hardscrabble
When Mikey Met Sulley
Eighties-Style college films have had a good run. Starting out with ANIMAL HOUSE (1978), and ending with this movie (I hope). Forget PCU, RUDY, or even the HOMER GOES TO COLLEGE episode on THE SIMPSONS. This is the last hurrah for 80s college movies.
Back in his college days, Sulley was more of a legend than that other Sulley. You know, the one that landed the plane. He is a monster-machine that can scare the shit out of anything, and shotgun a beer in two seconds flat.
Mike, on the other hand has trouble scaring children. He's about as scary as Billy Crystal is funny. And that retainer in his mouth doesn't help his situation.
Mike and Sulley are like Chris Farley and David Spade. You have a strait-laced dude, and a carefree man. One guy eats oatmeal for breakfast, and the other goes to McDonald's; and orders two McGriddles, puts a Hershey bar between the two sandwiches, and makes a McGriddle Big Mac. And...well, you get where this is going. Clashing personalities forced to work together.
Nerds!!!
MONSTER'S U starts out with the basic elements from the REVENGE OF THE NERDS plot. Except, one jock, Sulley, is in the nerd frat voluntarily. Could you just imagine? It would be like Stan Gable (Ted McGinley) joining Lambda Lambda Lambda. And instead of the 'Greek Games', we have the 'Hunger Games'...I mean 'Scare Games'.
Being a prequel, we know how this ends. But is the journey worth watching?
I suppose so, it's a better-than-average Pixar movie. They waited awhile to make a prequel and that's admirable. Which is more than I can say CITY SLICKERS II. MONSTER'S UNIVERSITY isn't wholly original. Nonetheless, it is enjoyable. Like something John Hughes would create in his prime.
Final Verdict: 82 out of 100
Sidenote: I didn't like how 'Art' is ripped-off of 'Grimace' from McDonald's. Just because no one would notice, doesn't make it right. 
