Monsters University

Monsters University

Monsters University is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released byWalt Disney Pictures.^[6] It was directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae, with John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stantonand Lee Unkrich as executive producers. It is the fourteenth feature film produced by Pixar and is a prequel to 2001's Monsters, Inc., marking the first time Pixar has made a prequel film.^[7]

Disney, as the rights holder, had plans for a sequel to Monsters, Inc. since 2005. Following disagreements with Pixar, Disney tasked its Circle 7 Animation unit to make the film. ^[8] An early draft of the film was developed; however, Disney's purchase of Pixar in early 2006 led to the cancellation of Circle 7's version of the film.^[9] A Pixar-made sequel was confirmed in 2010,^[6] and in 2011, it was confirmed that the film would instead be a prequel titled Monsters University.^[10]

Monsters University tells the story of two monsters, Mike and Sulley, and their time studying at college, where they start off as rivals, but slowly become best friends. Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Bob Peterson, and John Ratzenberger reprise their roles as Mike Wazowski, James P. Sullivan, Randall Boggs, Roz, and the Abominable Snowman, respectively. Bonnie Hunt, who played Ms. Flint in the first film, voices Mike's grade school teacher Ms. Karen Graves. The music for the film is composed by Randy Newman, marking his seventh collaboration with Pixar.

Monsters University premiered on June 5, 2013, at the BFI Southbank in London, United Kingdom and was released on June 21, 2013, in the United States. It was accompanied in theaters by a short film, The Blue Umbrella, directed by Saschka Unseld.^[11] The film received positive reviews and was a box office success, grossing $743 million against its estimated budget of $200 million.^[3][5]An animated short film titled Party Central, which takes place shortly after the events of Monsters University, premiered in fall 2013.^[12][13]

Plot[edit]

A young monster named Michael "Mike" Wazowski dreams of being a scarer (a monster who enters the human world at night to scare children so their screams can be harvested for energy) when he grows up, after visiting Monsters Inc.—Monstropolis' most profitable and best-known scaring company—on a school field trip. Eleven years later, Mike is a first-year scare major at Monsters University, where he meets a large, blue, furry monster named James P. "Sulley" Sullivan.

Mike studies hard while the privileged Sulley – who comes from a family of talented scarers – is lazy, relying only on his natural ability, and begins to falter. As the semester progresses, Mike and Sulley attempt to join a fraternity, but only Sulley gets into the prestigious Roar Omega Roar. At the semester's final exam, after they accidentally break open her cherished Scream Can, Dean Abigail Hardscrabble fails them both and drops them from the program, stating that Sulley does not study enough – prompting Roar Omega Roar to kick him out – and Mike is simply not scary enough. Mike decides to prove himself by entering the Scare Games, making a wager with the skeptical Hardscrabble where she agrees to readmit the whole team to the scare program if they win, but Mike must leave the school if they lose. He joins Oozma Kappa – the only fraternity that is available to him – to compete, but they are denied entry as they are one team member short. Seeing the competition as his ticket back into the scare program, Sulley volunteers and Mike reluctantly accepts.

Oozma Kappa finishes last in the first challenge, meaning they will be eliminated, but miraculously advances when another team is disqualified for violating the rules. Oozma Kappa advances through subsequent challenges, improving gradually thanks to Mike's training. The team is invited to a Roar Omega Roar party but are discouraged when the other competitors humiliate them. Mike arranges a secret visit to Monsters, Inc. to lift the team's spirits, but Sulley still doubts that Mike can be a true scarer. In the final round, they pull off a close victory cemented by a final decisive scare by Mike in the simulation bedroom: afterwards, Mike discovers that he only won because Sulley cheated, rigging the machine to give him a top score before he went in. Determined to prove he can become a scarer, Mike breaks into the school's door lab and enters a door to the human world, but the door leads to a summer camp, and he is unable to scare a cabin full of children.

Back at the university, Roar Omega Roar offers to reinstate Sulley, but he refuses, instead confessing to Hardscrabble that he cheated, just as she is alerted of Mike's break-in. Realizing what happened, Sulley enters the same door to look for Mike, defying Hardscrabble's objections. After finding Mike and reconciling, they try to return, but are trapped in the human world - Hardscrabble having deactivated the door they used until the authorities arrive – and are now being pursued by camp rangers. Mike realizes that the only way to get back to the monster world is to generate enough scream energy to power the door from their side. Working together, Sulley and Mike terrify the camp rangers, generating an overwhelming amount of scream energy and allowing them to return to the lab, where they are led away by the CDA.

Their actions lead to their expulsion from the university, but the other members of Oozma Kappa are accepted into the scare program the next semester, as Hardscrabble was impressed with their performance in the games. As Mike leaves on the bus, Sulley runs after him to encourage him. Hardscrabble then appears and tells them that, although she cannot reinstate the two, they are the first to have surprised her, and wishes them luck. The duo begin work at Monsters, Inc. in the company mailroom under the mailroom manager, the Abominable Snowman. Working their way up through the company, they eventually become part of the Scarer Team.