Comments on: Monsters University (DVD)

By: J. Carvajal "jay105"

J. Carvajal "jay105" — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 06:41:49 +0000

Not as good as the original but still great Not as good as the original but pretty entertaining and clever. I recommend this movie for all families, Disney really have a formula for success.

By: Jonathan "Jimmy Dean" Lane: libertari...

Jonathan "Jimmy Dean" Lane: libertari... — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 06:28:20 +0000

Pixar returns to its magical ways. Dumb me! Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb me! All summer I put my faith and hope in the big blockbuster films, the Iron Man 3′s and Star Treks of the world. And from Man of Steel to Pacific Rim almost without fail these over budgeted, underwritten explosiony action films left me feeling disappointed and underwhelmed. Except for World War Z there is not a single movie I’ve seen this summer that I can truly say was a great film. Some were better than others (Oblivion and Pacific Rim were both pretty good) but considering their competition was Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness that’s not saying much. All the while I put off seeing Monsters U for weeks. “It looks silly” I said, “Pixar has lost its mojo” the idiot side of my brain insisted. Well, that sure teaches me. I will never doubt Pixar again. Even if they make another mediocre film like Brave, they have more than proven themselves still capable of making a damn good film.Wall E will always be my favorite Pixar film, and Toy Story 2 will always be my second, but fighting for third place for a long time has been Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, the original Toy Story, and Up. That is the kind of company Monsters U is keeping. It does everything right, from delivering plenty incredibly funny moments balanced with the kind of emotionally powerful and heartfelt scenes that have made Pixar a household name. This movie is so funny I chocked on my popcorn. I haven’t laughed this hard in a movie since 21 Jump Street. And it wasn’t that cheap appeal to the lowest denominator type humor either. There aren’t any fart jokes, poop jokes, inside innuendos about sex or drugs. None of that nonsense here. This is good old fashioned honest to God comedy that’s drop dead hilariousness and perfectly appropriate for all ages. When you hear kids laughing in the theaters along me, a 24 year old man, you know its comedy gold. It’s because the characters carry the story, and when you have a story driven by strong characters you have a good film. Mike and Sully aren’t the only ones delivering laughs, as just about everyone gets in on the action.Mike and Sully, much like in the original film, star as the main roles but their relationship isn’t quite the same. They start the film as heated rivals: Mike is an underdog overachiever who’s devoted his entire life to becoming a scarer despite the fact that he’s not even remotely scary, while Sully is the son of a famous scarer who’s had everything in life handed to him and makes no effort whatsoever in applying himself. Sully has all the natural skill in the world but none of the motivation or drive to apply himself. Mike on the other hand lacks any sort of natural skill. He isn’t scary, he’s built like a lovable beach ball, he can’t roar, but his drive and motivation makes him able to compete with some of the best scarers on campus. It’s very Rudy like in that regard, and though not entirely original the way the story is told is Pixar magic at its finest. And like Rudy it teaches us a very valuable lesson that people of all ages can relate to, that despite ones physical limitations, even of those limitations preclude you from achieving something you’ve wanted your entire life, with enough hard work, dedication, and the right attitude you can very well succeed at what you wanted, even if it’s not quite in the way you imagined. Who can’t relate to that? Who here wanted to be an athlete when they grew up but didn’t have the physical capability to compete past High School? : raises hand: As adults we’ve all experienced this at one time or another. You wanted to be an actor, an athlete, a musician, something, but despite your hard work and dedication it was just never meant to be. So I sympathize with Mike, as I imagine most audience members will.At the other end of the spectrum we have Sully, who presents a cool and collected face to the world but is living with the weight of high expectations. His father is a world class scarer, a legend, and so Sully has a lot to live up to. His pedigree makes him blind to his own limitations and the need for improvement while also placing a burden upon him he’s terrified of not living up to. He’s brash, arrogant, a know it all, but as time goes on and failures pile on top of failures he learns that pedigree is not enough, that without actual effort your natural skills won’t mean much of anything. Life won’t give you a pass because you are the son of so and so or because you can roar really loud. Eventually you’re going to be put to the test, and forced to compete against those of equal or greater natural ability. When that happens it’s the ones that apply themselves the most who will succeed. It was great to see Sully’s development in this way from hot shot know it all to humble and hardworking individual. I’m telling you there is more depth, growth, and subtlety to these characters then all the summer action films combined. It’s not even close.The…

By: M. Mierendorf

M. Mierendorf — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 06:09:43 +0000

Why the lessons in `Monsters University’ are Pixar’s most bold yet UPDATE 11/4/13: Blu-ray details review.QUALITY: Unsurprisingly, the video quality is stunning. Little else needs to be said about the transfer. It’s flawless.EXTRAS: There are a TON of extras!If you like the behind-the-scenes process of filmmaking, the extras here are about as extensive as I’ve seen before. Not only do the shorts give a background of life on Pixar’s campus (Campus Life), but plenty of dedication to each aspect of making the film. Of course, there’s also some deleted scenes.What’s nice about the scenes is that director Dan Scalon talks you through the scene in detail and why it was cut. They are of course unfinished, but still interesting to see what could have been part of the movie.If I have one complaint, it’s the layout of the bonus features menu. Despite the features being on a blu-ray disc, the menu does not operate like a blu-ray menu. Typically, you’re able to operate within the menu while the movie (or features) are playing on screen. Instead, you need to return to the menu screen to select the next option. It’s a small caveat, but there we go.SPOILERS BELOW. DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FILM.If you don’t care about the end being discussed, then by all means read on…My wife and I saw Monsters University and both loved it. Many of the Top Critics on Rotten Tomatoes however, seemed to miss the point of the film entirely.”This is a safe, predictable, edge-free, nearly bland effort from a studio that rarely hedges its bets.” – Richard Roeper”[It] conforms to [Pixar's] apparent drift toward the average, with toy sales taking priority over originality.” – Liam Lacey”Monsters University is cute, and funny, and the animation, though not exactly inspired, is certainly colorful.” – Steven Rae”Mostly memorable for being fine but forgettable.” – Betsy SharkeySince 1995, Pixar has dominated computer animated filmmaking. They constantly win Academy Awards (9 nominations, 7 wins for Best Animated Feature) and are universally praised for their efforts by the critics. Nearly each Pixar movie has a handful of lessons or dominant themes it tries to teach and tell. The Toy Story Trilogy (friendship, getting older) A Bug’s Life (self-esteem, ingenuity, teamwork) Monster Inc (greed, pride) Finding Nemo (father-son relationship, growing up, letting go) The Incredibles (family values, honor) *Cars and Cars 2 (I’m pretty sure these are just about marketing toys) Ratatouille (friendship, trust, confidence) WALL-E (consumerism, environmentalism) Up (love, living life in the moment) Brave (family values, respect, love, mother-daughter relationship).However, after seeing MU and reading the critical reviews, I was shocked how many reviewers missed the point of the film and the important lessons Pixar chose to address in the film. You could even make the argument that the lessons in MU are more bold than any previous Pixar film. Which leads to why MU is ultimately about failure and why that’s okay.Obviously, as this is a movie about college, there are your typical and inherent lessons for the characters (finding your place, growing up, building friendships), but the most important and surprising lesson is watching Mike Wazowski fail. This lesson is a particularly unique and groundbreaking approach for the age groups in Generation Y (Millennial) and Z. Generational scholar and author Ron Alsop argued that the Millennial generation is a group of “trophy kids”, who were given rewards just for participating. I’m a Millennial and like many of my friends growing up, we all received gold stars on our homework, ribbons for events, etc. constantly rewarding us for just doing our job. You could also argue we’ve been constantly told that we could achieve anything we want if we just worked hard. We were told there was no way we could fail. This is the definitive issue that MU tackles head-on.From the age of little monster, Mike is enthralled with the career of being a scarer – the job that every monster dreams of. It’s for the cream of the crop. Mike is told continually as a small monster that he’s too small and not scary enough to succeed. It’s only after he sneaks into a live door on the Monsters, Inc. scare floor that people believe he’s capable of great things. He uses that moment to work hard and get into Monsters University to study at the School of Scaring.The main plot is the competitive nature between the hard-working Mike and the famous-last-name Sullivan. Their antagonistic rivalry drives the story until they are forced to work together to get back into the School of Scaring. Like all feel good movies, Mike and Sullivan ultimately save the day, win the Scare Games and are cheered and admired amongst everyone at the school…