A Guest Blog #review of Monsters University

Hi guys!  Today, I wanted to do something a little new!  I have a guest post from a fellow blogger !  I do it on the review blog a lot but thought , what the heck! let's try it here too!   Carolyn offered to review Monsters University for us! You know me, I love anything Disney!  We took the kids to see MU as well and it was a great movie!  I hope you'll enjoy her review : ) 

When I first heard about the Monsters, Inc. prequel, I was ecstatic. The first is one of my all-time favorites (seriously underrated, in my opinion) and I was excited to see more.

But then I got worried. Very worried. What if it failed to live up to the first?

Well, ladies and gents, I am happy to say that Monsters University is a worthy companion to the original. It’s a film jam-packed full of laughs, friendship, and those valuable life lessons we’ve come to associate with Pixar.

The premise of the movie centers on the dynamic between Mike, the studious and determined wannabe-scarer, and Sulley, the cocky natural. The two don’t exactly hit it off at first, but through extenuating circumstances, they find themselves on the same team in a campus-wide competition called the Scare Games. Also on their team, they have a ragtag bunch of members from the loser fraternity, Oozma Kappa, who turn out to be serious scene stealers. From a philosophy major to a former salesman, pay attention to their hilarious one-liners (“I can’t go back to jail!”). What the movie lacks in terms of original plot, it makes up for with strong and likeable characters you can’t help but get emotionally invested in and root for.

Woven throughout the film are valuable lessons of friendship, playing fair, and making the best of your circumstances. You have Mike who studies so hard but simply isn’t scary and Sulley who is scary without any effort but is struggling to live up to his family name. It has surprisingly mature underlying themes: confronting your own limitations and the expectations of others without sacrificing your dreams or losing your integrity. But I suppose that’s what Pixar does best: present older themes in a family-friendly way that makes both you and your children think.

What Monsters University lacks in clichés it makes up for in loveable characters, comedy and heart. The strong friendship between Mike and Sulley is the driving force of the movie and it’s entertaining to see how these two buddies got to where they are in Monsters, Inc.—trust me, it’s not the way you expect.

(An added bonus? Keep your eyes peeled for nods to the original. Old faces, like Randall and Roz, pop up.)

4/5 Pixar lamps!

(Carolyn Heintz is a nutritionist, coffee lover, and Pixar fanatic. She splits her time between working as a nutrition consultant, writing for her blog and freelancing as a staff writer for Life Line. Most of the time, however, she’s just loving life as the mom to two incredible little girls.)