{"id":26631,"date":"2013-06-20T07:20:43","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T14:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=26631"},"modified":"2013-06-24T22:12:24","modified_gmt":"2013-06-25T05:12:24","slug":"monsters-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=26631","title":{"rendered":"Monsters University"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Akin, 41 and Adam, 6.5<\/p>\n

Akin: I have to admit, I came to Monsters University<\/em> with all sorts of doubts. Why wait more than a decade before conjuring up a prequel? Would Pixar\/Disney remain true to the canon? Could they? Mike and Sully were a great odd couple first time around. Maybe it is worth doing over. After all, everything\u2019s getting re-booted nowadays. I mean, Monsters Inc<\/em>. wasn\u2019t the great Pixar animation, but it was built around a clever premise.<\/p>\n

Adam: Daddy took me to the cinema. It was (hurried consultation for the right phrase in English) 3-D, and I don\u2019t always like wearing the glasses. But it\u2019s OK.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MONSTERS<\/a><\/p>\n

Akin: The premise is simple but effective: Monsters are made, not born. Mike (voiced by Billy Crystal) is nebbish and weedy but has been in love forever with the idea of becoming a Scarer. Scarers are the heroes of Monstropolis; generating power for the city through children\u2019s screams. (It\u2019s a lot more cuddly than it sounds.)\u00a0 But to become one, first Mike needs to get into the elite Monsters University, where the competition is intense.<\/p>\n

Adam: Mike has one eye. But he\u2019s not scary, he\u2019s funny.<\/em><\/p>\n

Akin: Sully (John Goodman) is a big bluff jock, with a congenial air and the inclination to coast rather than work hard. He comes from a distinguished line of Scarers, and is used to privilege coming to him.<\/p>\n

Adam: Sully is big and cuddly and REALLY scary.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"JUST<\/a><\/p>\n

Akin: A lot has happened in the world of family-friendly films since Monsters Inc<\/em>, way back in 2001. It\u2019s the rare family film that doesn\u2019t attempt to appeal to multiple audience demographics; it\u2019s the rarer one that successfully manages to square that particular circle. (There\u2019s no real reason why they ought to, if you think about it: but that\u2019s the nature of the beast created by the film industry, all the better to boost box office receipts.) Monsters University<\/em>, it should be said, does make a good fist of the rather limited resources at its disposal, though. (Loyalty to the canon, remember?) College life is dominated by cliques – the cool guys and the nerds. Mike and Sully start off at opposite ends of the divide, but through a sequence of misadventures wind up in the same mediocre fraternity, Oozma Kappa. Mike is determined to prove his worth, to himself and the extremely sceptical head of faculty, Dame Hardscrabble (a chilly Helen Mirren \u2013 her English accent giveaway that she\u2019s the designated baddy.)<\/p>\n

Adam: A lot happens. Mike and Sully chase a pig. They don\u2019t do their exams well. They join the same club…OK is a funny name for a club, isn\u2019t it, Daddy?<\/em><\/p>\n

Akin: I didn\u2019t actually think about that.<\/p>\n

Adam: There\u2019s a competition: Which is the best Scarer club? Mike really really wants his club to win…<\/em><\/p>\n

Akin: It is more than that, I think. Mike\u2019s fraternity…Mike\u2019s club has to win for him to continue studying to be a Scarer. It\u2019s very difficult. No-one else in his club is very good, though, or at least so Mike thinks…what did you think about the 3-D, Adam?<\/p>\n

Adam: I didn\u2019t like the glasses. They kept falling down. But after a bit, I didn\u2019t notice.<\/em><\/p>\n

Akin: Mercifully, the 3-D isn\u2019t retrofitted, but does seem a bit superfluous most of the time. The animation is solid rather than exceptional. Goodman and Crystal are both competent, although the avatar\/actualite intersection is useful, if not terribly inspired, visual shorthand.<\/p>\n

(At this point, Adam asks who Billy Crystal is. Given Adam\u2019s lack of familiarity with the actor\u2019s biggest hits \u2013 Analyse This\/That<\/em>, City Slickers<\/em>, When Harry Met Sally<\/em> \u2013\u00a0 Akin is forced to concede that the voice casting may actually be more effective than he gave it credit for being, perhaps less reliant than he thought on actors\u2019 public persona.)<\/p>\n

Akin: Monsters University<\/em> falls somewhere in the middle of the family-friendly animation continuum. It\u2019s no Toy Story<\/em>, for instance, lacking that genuinely universal narrative that works as effectively for adults as it does for children. But it isn\u2019t either A Shark\u2019s Tale<\/em>, which rather lazily traded on adult-relevant reference points and hoped for the child audience to be swept along on its coat-tails (should that be fish-tales?). It\u2019s unfair to call Monsters University derivative \u2013 let\u2019s face it, there aren\u2019t that many films nowadays that come up with a completely unique and original orientation. It is entertaining, but in a largely predictable fashion.<\/p>\n

Adam: I didn\u2019t like it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Akin: No?<\/p>\n

Adam: I REALLY liked it. And you know what I liked most about it? The lesson.<\/em><\/p>\n

Akin: There\u2019s a lesson?<\/p>\n

Adam: (Rolls his eyes)Ye-ah. (Slight spoiler alert) You shouldn\u2019t think that you\u2019ve won until the very, very end.<\/em><\/p>\n

Akin: Oh. I must have missed that. Perhaps I ought to watch it again?<\/p>\n

Adam: Can we? Please?<\/em><\/p>\n

Monsters University<\/em> opens today in Israeli theatres.<\/p>\n

\"ARE<\/a><\/p>\n

Monsters University<\/em> (US, 2013, 110 min, English with Hebrew subtitles, or Hebrew dub)
\nDirected by Dan Scanlon; Cast: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Akin, 41 and Adam, 6.5 Akin: I have to admit, I came to Monsters University with all sorts of doubts. Why wait more than a decade before conjuring up a prequel? Would Pixar\/Disney remain true to the canon? Could they? Mike and Sully were a great odd couple first time around. Maybe it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}