Monster University
Starring: Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi
Director: Dan Scanlon (also doubles as producer)
Genre: Animation
Running time: 103 minutes
It could be the biggest animation so far. Monsters University is top of the box office charts in the US and in Canada, two of the world’s biggest markets. It is fending off competition from two new releases, the female-buddy comedy The Heat and the explosion-filled thriller White House Down, which opened last week at Cineplex Cinema. Monsters University is a prequel to the 2001 hit Monsters Inc.
Michael “Mike” Wazowski is a six-year-old on a visit to Monsters Inc., a scaring company. He would like to offer his services, to assist Monstropolis with energy. He is given a chance and when he gets in he meets Frank McCay in one of the field trips.
Frank is on a secret mission to enter the human world to frighten people and he will be rehearsing. The six-year-old finds the door to his rehearsal’s room open and sneaks in, without Frank’s awareness.
After he is done with his mock performance Frank finds Wasowski in, gets mad and scolds him. The boy is happy and states he wants to be a better scarer than Frank when he grows up.
Approximately 13 years later, Wasowski is grown and is now a scare major and is starting his first day at the prestigious, Monsters University. He makes friends with his roommate, a shy Randall Boggs, who wants to become famous.
While studying one night, Wasowski encounters another scare student, the arrogant, playful, large blue monster named James P. “Sulley” Sullivan, who inadvertently breaks into Mike’s room in order to hide the pig mascot of a rival college.
Monsters University has received generally positive reviews from critics. The film holds a 78 per cent approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 144 reviews and the movie critics describe it as funny and thoughtful family entertainment for viewers of any age.