A Pixar Animation Studios Film
Story by Dan Scanlon & Robert L. Baird and Daniel Gerson
Screenplay Written by Daniel Gerson and Robert L. Baird & Dan Scanlon
Directed by Dan Scanlon
** (two stars)
Near the conclusion of "Monsters University," the latest release from Pixar Animation Studios and the prequel to their outstanding classic "Monsters, Inc." (2001), a despondent yet reflective Mike Wazowski (again voiced by Billy Crystal) announces that while the brass ring of greatness just may be forever out of his reach, he has resigned himself to the idea that "I'm OK with being OK." To that end, Abigail Hardscabble (voiced by Helen Mirren), the deliciously stern Dean of the Monsters University's Scare Program expresses that she hopes that Mike Wazowski will still find it within himself to surprise her once again. After that exchange, I was amazed as I do not believe that the wizards of Pixar have ever been so openly and directly self-reflexive. Maybe one day they will take their own advice as voiced by Ms. Hardscrabble, and decide to not just be merely OK and surprise us all again.
Dear readers, I feel as if I am going through the five stages of grief (denial, anger, depression, bargaining and acceptance) when it has come to my relationship with the continuing oeuvre of Pixar Animaton Studios. Where this collective of artists and dreamers once set the gold standard for American animated films, raising their own bar of quality with each new release, Pixar, as voiced by Mike Wazowski, has seemingly settled for artistic mediocrity despite the massive box office rewards they still continue to reap. Ever since the strong but padded "Toy Story 3" (2010), Pixar has offered up a mildly entertaining yet completely unnecessary sequel that nobody asked for in "Cars 2" (2011), one full fledged disaster with last year's "Brave" and earlier this year, there was the wholly underwhelming announcement that "Finding Dory," another unnecessary sequel, this time to the glorious "Finding Nemo" (2003), would be released in 2015. Ugh!
I just cannot believe but may be forced to accept the fact that Pixar just may not be interested in making entertainment that is artful anymore and they will just keep on chasing the dollar. But then, that thought infuriates me because we do have their filmography at hand and we all know the magic they are able to create. There was a time when I would be filled with extremely anxious anticipation with the release of each new Pixar experience, ensuring that I would endure the ocean of small children and families just to get that great seat on opening weekend. But now, after having been let down time and again, I am not nearly as anxious and each new announcement and sequel/prequel idea is just meeting me with a completely dispassionate yawn. So, after a few weeks of release, I finally decided to give "Monsters University" a whirl and while it was a large step upwards from "Brave" with its strong performances and resplendent visual palate, the film was ultimately another blandly creative exercise that was nothing more than artistic wheel spinning and shameless money grabbing.
"Monsters University" is essentially an origin story of how our heroes Mike Wazowski and James "Sully" Sullivan (again voiced by John Goodman) met during their college days, began as rivals and tentatively found their way to best friendship. As the film begins, we meet six year old Mike, the diminutive, fast talking, one-eyed creature whose heart becomes filled with BIG dreams of one day becoming the greatest "scarer" in monster history after a school field trip to Monsters Inc.
Flash forward to his Freshman Year of college where Mike becomes roommates with future nemesis Randall (voiced by Steve Buscemi), enrolls in the Scare Program where he meets Sully, the son of a campus legend, for the first time and is determined to ace his semester finals. A semester's worth of rivalry between Mike and Sully escalates all the way to the fateful day of the exam and to the degree where they are both ejected from the Scare Program by Dean Hardscabble.
Unshakable in his determination to prove his worth as a scary monster, Mike joins the fraternity Oozma Kappa (O.K.) with a small group of misfit monsters and attempts to enlist in the campus Scare Games to compete against a collective of fraternities and sororities including the elite Roar Omega Roar (R.O.R.), the very fraternity from which Sully had just been ejected from. Yet, there's a problem. OK is just one member short of being eligible for competition so Sully reluctantly joins Mike and they are forced to work together to achieve their respective dreams.
As with every single Pixar release that has come before, "Monsters University" is a visual marvel. My eyes simply drank in the heavily layered sights of the campus which is essentially a stunning amalgam of Harvard, Princeton and even the University Of Wisconsin-Madison (apparently, a graduate of UW-Madison worked on the film and Madison viewers will easily spot the campus Carillon, the archway to Camp Randall and even our gargantuan Bascom Hill). Additionally, the return of Billy Crystal and John Goodman does indeed go a long way with this prequel as they slide easily back into their roles to strong and enormously endearing effect. Even so, Pixar should know better than any other animation studio that visual brilliance and the warmth of familiar characters is just not enough in making a story and film resonate into something unique and it just makes me crazy that "Monsters University" never pushes past any sense of its own comfort zone.
While the story itself is as appropriately simple as all of the other Pixar features, what the filmmakers have done with those simple stories in the past is precisely what has made films like "Monsters, Inc.," "Finding Nemo," and "Toy Story 2" (1999) for instance such beloved and timeless films. By the time the studio reached the fare of "Wall-E" (2008), "Up" (2009) and Director Brad Bird's towering "The Incredibles" (2004) and "Ratatouille" (2007), it felt as if Pixar was not content with just making films for children. They were obviously making the films that they would pay to see themselves and as a result, if children didn't' quite respond initially, they were films that refused to be disposable and defiantly the type of films anyone could grow up with. Not so with their most recent material and "Monsters University" is no exception. Where the story and emotions contained within were once the true stars of each Pixar feature, those elements have been replaced with a disturbing and sadly hollow heart that is seemingly only filled by how much merchandising can be created from the film itself.
It is just a shame that with a story and film that had so much opportunity to be fresh, inventive, clever and emotionally resonant, that the filmmakers just decided that Mike's journey should only exist in the "believe in yourself" universe that is the hallmark of essentially all children's films. Pixar offered absolutely nothing new on the subject and just chose to remain safe, predictable and pedestrian. Certainly not the traits that made us all fall in love with Pixar in the first place.
And then there are the Scare Games themselves, another opportunity for greatness which the filmmakers squander. Yes, these sequences essentially combine the classic "Revenge Of The Nerds" (1984) and the Tri-Wizard Tournament from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire but everything is just played towards the same tired cliched, snobs vs. slobs collegiate hijinks we have all seen ad nauseum ever since Director John Landis' iconic "National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978). There was just nothing in the film that felt new or presented anything in an unusual, perspective altering fashion as with the bulk of Pixar's past works.
Think back to the original "Monsters, Inc." and remember how sharp and satirical the humor was and how laugh out loud funny it has remained. Think of the many sequences that offered surprise and awe (that wild roller coaster ride through the factory of bedroom doors is still a jaw dropper). And then add on the emotional wallop of the relationship between Sully and the little girl Boo, a relationship that reduces the friend I first saw that film with into a sea of flowing tears and the exclamation, "That was the BEST FILM EVER!!" "Monsters University" is nowhere in the same league as it just falls on the easy sentiments of cherished characters and hackneyed homilies that Pixar seemingly rejected in most of their films. Such a shame to see them trying to just get by on those very elements now.
And it didn't have to be that way either. There is one, and I mean, ONE scene in the film that pointed to where Pixar used to be. It occurs late in the film where Mike and Sully have a heart to heart talk about the nature of failure and how despite a familial legacy and/or hard work and relentless perseverance, success may always elude you. It was a scene that showed true emotion, as well as a hard truth of life, and yet, Pixar blinked and ran from that moment as fast as it could.
Look...I didn't hate "Monsters University." It is mildly entertaining but from a studio that has the ability to produce enormously entertaining works, why should I settle for less? I shouldn't and neither should you! Pixar is in the position to be making great works of art because money is no longer an issue and yes, it nearly angers me that they have chosen to play it so safely for a few years now. I haven't given up on them yet as the next two features before "Finding Dory" are reportedly originals and the short feature that preceded "Monsters University" was such a splendidly beautiful piece that it could potentially point to Pixar's future.
If only they want it.
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