My Review of "Monsters University"

Monsters University came out back in 2013. I watched the movie not too long after that so this is my second viewing. Back when I first watched it, I remember having a lot of fun watching it and I wanted to revisit that joy. As with always, I've grown a new perspective of the movie after watching it years later.

This movie starts off with a very young monster named Mike in a fictional monster world. Those that have seen Monsters Inc will know who Mike is. I barely remember the first Monsters Inc movie so don't worry if you haven't seen that one before seeing this one.

Mike is a wide eyed youth visiting the Monsters Inc company. He looks in awe as everything is brand new and exciting. Unfortunately for him he isn't quite popular with his classmates. He's the smallest monster of all and he's not the least bit scary. That's a harsh reality for him in a world that thrives from scary monsters. The monster world that Mike lives in is fueled by the fear of young children in the human world.

While the kids are checking out Monsters Inc, they get a first hand view of actual professional "scarers". These are monsters that go into the human world to scare kids. Of course since they're masters of their craft they are idolized by these young monsters. One of the professional scarers eyes Mike and encourages him to go to Monsters University so he can be a professional scarer when he's older.

We then fast forward to Mike's young adult years. He's a bright eyed student thirsty for knowledge. After all these years he's been studying like crazy to go to Monsters University. In fact, he's probably the hardest working student on campus. The problem for Mike is that he's still not a very scary monster. That causes for a lot of ridicule and shunning from his colleagues at the university.

Mike also meets Sullivan a naturally scary monster. Since he's already has the requirements physically he doesn't really study as much as Mike. The two are stark contrasts of each other so it's natural that the two also butt heads. Mike will continue to study hard while Sullivan continues to slack off in school and hangs out with the cool monsters.

I won't give too much away but ultimately this is Mike's journey to prove the naysayers out there that he can't be scary. They meet up with tons of interesting characters along the way to help out their journey as well.

Obviously, this is going to be an underdog story oddly enough they were able to sprinkle a sense of reality in this movie. Even though it's geared towards children there are some interesting lessons that this movie wants to teach kids.

I know that in most underdog stories the underdog will always triumph regardless of their misgivings. In this case there is a dose of reality that suggests that sometimes we just can't change the way we are. This movie tells us that we have to rework our minds to see different paths and outcomes. We all can't just do the same things to get the same outcomes. Everyone in this world is different from one another, it would be impossible for everyone to achieve the same success.

It was basically talking about privilege before privilege was a hot button in pop culture nowadays. Sullivan had the privilege of being naturally scary so he couldn't empathize with what Mike was trying to pull off. It only takes Sullivan to get to know Mike to understand what he was going through and even then he wouldn't understand exactly how Mike felt. At least he was able to build that empathy to understand the handicaps that Mike had to endure.

Now both of our main protagonists aren't perfect either. Each of them have their own egos. Sullivan has a tendency of relying on his own natural gifts to get him through life. Mike, on the other hand was relying too much of his innate gift to work hard and know everything. Each of them have huge egos because they're aware of their own natural gifts. This movie goes on to push the notion that we should step back and really look at the way that we conduct ourselves. Many of the issues that they encountered could have easily have been avoided had they checked their egos out the door. Obviously this is easier said than done.

Then there's the usual lesson of how we're okay if we're different from one another. Although, I liked the fact that none of their accomplishments were ever made by themselves. They always relied on the team in order to make things possible. Team work made things a lot simpler. It made them understand that even though they weren't able to achieve their personal goals that were able to attain much more with a team. That's a very important lesson especially in today's small world. With the advent of the internet we're more connected than ever. This movie helps us understand the significance of finding each of our strengths and weaknesses.

I still had a great time watching this movie after so many years. I actually thought it wouldn't translate well to today's cultural climate and in some ways it doesn't. The whole idea of sensationalizing monsters intruding on children to scare them is problematic already. There are a ton of issues that I could lay out there but who would want to hear about those.

Overall, this movie is a fun ride. Kids and adults alike can enjoy this movie equally. There are a lot of childlike humor and there are a few pacing scenes that are a little off but that's just nitpicking. If it was good even after my second viewing years later, it's a good movie. I have to give this one a 7.5 out of 10. Those of you that loved Monsters Inc. should probably check this movie out as well.