Saturday 27 July 2013

The cast of Monsters Inc. went to Uni...but did it make them think?


 Before Mike and Sully were world class scarers at Monsters Inc. accidentally unleashing a human child into the monster world and reforming the techniques used to elicit electricity from the extreme reactions of children to the presence of monsters, they were mere university students struggling to make there way in the world...and wondering if they ever would.

 Sully, son of a famous scarer, has a monstrous presence in the genes, but as a result is highly dependent on his family name and frightening features and regresses into an arrogant lazy jock. Mike, by contrast, is as terrifying as a toothpick but with the commitment and booksmarts to ensure he knows everything there is to know abut eliciting a top class scare.

 

Both majoring as scarers, Mike and Sully's conflicting personalities lead to a confrontation that causes them both to be dejected from the programme. They are enabled one final opportunity to prove there worth thanks to Mike's quick thinking. They will participate in the 'Scare Games', a series of obstacles intended to test there scare abilities. The catch? They have to form there own fraternity, Oozma Kappa, a fraternity as freaky as a hutchful of rabbits. With this there only opportunity to find themselves re-entered into the programme, the pressure is on and Mike and Sully must force themselves to work together rather than act as adversaries. They also need to reassess what it means to be a monster with Mike meshing with Sully's ideas that being a monster should be instinctive and natural, whilst Sully begins to realise that being a true scarer also requires the use of ones brains.

This movie comes at a good time for university students and those of university age who might be questioning whether university is the most appropriate way to locate a future career. The film combines the importance of book knowledge and physical experience and street smarts which seems to encourage a better way, all encompassing way of education. As such, this is a refreshing approach to the school years and will leave audiences feeling there is no right or wrong way to be a success. What matters is friendship, determination and tenacity.

Pixar is delightful as ever with a plethora of physical jokes, gorgeous animation and a real humanity to these otherwise monstrous characters. A brilliant family film and a delightfully inspirational movie for kids working on the stereotype of American highschools with a campass of monsters in place of blonde cheerleaders and strapping jocks! It's also wonderful to see the back story between two of Pixar's best friends.