"Monsters University" lacks a certain element which made "Monsters Inc." great; Boo. While Boo was not the primary focus of the first film in this series, she was the glue that held everything together. The genius of "Monsters Inc." was in its creative approach towards the audience. To sympathize with monsters who scare children for a living, the monsters must have a comparable fear of children. I can imagine the original pitch for "Monster's Inc." was a difficult sell, there were so many ways that this movie could go wrong. Yet the team at Pixar was able to successfully walk the narrow line between scaring children, and not taking them seriously. A pivotal scene was the moment in which Sulley shows off his ability to scare, and unintentionally frightens Boo. The look on his face, followed by his attempts to reassure her (he is persistent) was masterfully executed; the scene did not need to be disturbing to children viewers, yet they could understand why Boo was scared. And the icing on the cake in "Monsters Inc." was the beautifully coordinated door warehouse sequence. When something so intricate can be visually represented smoothly and clearly, that is something special.
"Monsters University" does not have a character to fill Boo's shoes. Yet it still contains the humor and creativity which filled the first film. I think this movie may actually have been funnier (Ashley told me afterwards that I had been laughing a lot). I especially liked Don, a monster returning to school after years as a salesman... I think his situation was somewhat identifiable to me. As I look back on this review, I realize that the bulk was devoted to "Monsters Inc." I didn't mean for that to happen; it's not my fault that it was the better movie.
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