Monsters University - is it JUST OK?

Gaining just about $136.9 million on its opening weekend alone, the prequel to Monsters Incorporated did not disappoint the wonder-seeking fans - mostly composed of the bright-eyed followers of Disney Pixar movies, and the parents being dragged along the big screen surprised to find out they were actually satisfied with the well-made movie. 

The first scene was super adorable little Mike Wazowski 
always being ignored by everyone, yet still incredibly positive 
and inspired during a field trip.

Fast forward to the future,
Mike the college kid steps off the
bus and peers into the sacred place
where dreams come true - or at least
that's what he thought it was.

...but everyone knows that excitement and passion 

isn't the only thing you need in college.

Dean Hardscrabble is undoubtedly the scariest monster to date.

Bonus points for making her the first female scarer+

What I loved about the prequel was other than seeing the familiar characters we've seen in the previous movie,  we get a re-introduction of their personalities and somehow we feel like we got to know them a little better.

Take Randy Boggs for example: Stiff, competitive Randall was once a spec-wearin', chum-lovin', book-readin' roommate of Mike who brought cupcakes to a fraternity party to impress all the cool kids. That was too cute!  We also begin to see how he slowly turned into who he was because of peer pressure (one of the many ounces of truth presented in the movie). 

 And of course, an introduction to the new characters.  For who could ever forget the most adorable Scott "Squishy" Squibbles and his killer rope toss dance move?

And what is a Disney movie without the bad guys?

In this case, the Roar Omega Roar Frat.

a snappy from Oozma Kappa's training video montage

Honestly speaking, I've watched the movie the first time back when it was in season.

 I remember feling a little disappointed with the story line. I expected more twists and turns, and maybe more jam-packed stunts and grand introductions. Some parts of the story I felt was a too sad revelation of their lives, and I thought the writers didn't make sense of it. I was surpsrised of Sully's jerk attitude and how the whole movie revolved around Mike. Some parts I wanted the emotion to be more extreme and involving other characters like Sulley's parents giving him a call. I was a giddy college freshman then. Now that I saw the movie featured on television in a bland afternoon as someone who has been in college for a while now, it felt comforting, relevant, and compelling even. The values like rising up after a terrible fall brought me to tears and gave me the courage to face whatever it is I'm going to face this coming year. I had one of those if-Mike-and-Sulley-can-do-it-then-so-can-I moments. I also loved watching the credits present Mike and Sulley's progess from being mail men in Monsters Inc. to being the best scare team in the industry! 

MU is something children will love because of the quirky characters and it's also something adults will love because of the metaphoric exposure to reality in a Disney movie.

Disney Pixar's astounding 3D graphics blows everyone away once again in this prequel. However, originality-wise, it felt closely related to college movies like Revenge of the Nerds and all those. Comparing it to the plots of their previous works like Up, Toy Story, The Incredibles or even Monsters Inc., it didn't really quite reach the bar. 

But you know what, the movie teaches us one thing to forget all the comparisons:

"It's alright to be just OK"

art by http://scyao.deviantart.com

see the cast and crew and more Monsters Universty-related stuff here.