Monsters University (2013): Review

Since I heard they were making a prequel to Pixar's Monsters, Inc. (2001) I have been super excited to see what the movie would be like and I am happy to say it lived up to my expectations.  I still prefer the original and think that it is hard to get the same magic with another movie but it was a fun ride throughout and ended with me believing that it would continue as it did into the original movie.
Monsters University is set around Mike Wazowski (Billy Chrystal) who has dreamed since he was a little kid to grow up and be a Scarer who graduated from the Scare Program at Monsters University.  He works hard to learn all that he can and get into the program but when he gets to school things don't go as planned. While at school he meets Scarer Legacy and fellow Freshman James P. Sullivan (John Goodman).  They get into a situation where they are competing against each other to make it in the scare program but they end up getting on Dean Hardscrabble's (Helen Mirren) bad side.  To get back on track to graduate from the Scare Program Mike and Sulley as well as a band of misfits compete in the Scare Games.  They have to learn about each other, overcome their shortcomings, and learn to work and support each other to become the monsters they want to be.
I was really excited while watching this movie that it could at least stand on its own but it is focused more on the relationships of the characters, going for your dreams and being who you are, then having the main characters go against a villain like in Monsters, Inc. The plot was pretty predictable but it moved along at a good clip and keep me interested. This is a solid family film and did not seem too scary for little kids.  There were many younger children in the showing with me and they were able to follow the story and did not seem too scared at the scary parts.  One of them even said to their mom that they wanted to see this again tomorrow.
This movie did not pretend to be anything that it wasn't and seemed to sick to what was wanted.  There were lots of references to Monsters, Inc. and cameos from the monsters in the first movie. Although there were lots of references it did not take away from the movie or distract from what was going on.  Basically I liked this movie and think it is worth seeing for anyone with little kids or who love watching Monsters, Inc. like I do.
I went to see it in 3D and to me it neither helped nor hindered the movie.  If it wasn't for the 3D glasses on my face, I really wouldn't have noticed that it was in 3D.  They used some dimension and things falling from the sky but it wasn't too jarring, but not really necessary to enjoy the film.  It is not anything that needs to be seen in 3D.
There is a short bonus seen, that references earlier in the movie, at the end of the credits.  To see this you have to wait through all of the credits which take about eight minutes.

My Rating: 3