Monsters University

 

Expectations:
Monsters Inc., which was released back in 2001 (when I was 11 years old), has a special place in many hearts of folks my age. While I'm not a huge, huge fan of Monsters Inc., I do remember watching the movie in the theater, and my love of films from my childhood has grown over the years, so I was looking forward to the prequel. However, the biggest problem that I thought may come with Monsters University is that the folks my age have very little interest in children's cartoons, on account of being in our 20s. For Pixar, releasing a prequel or sequel to a 12 year old film could have turned out to be a very bad idea. Fortunately, that was not the case, as Monster University has now remained at the top of the box office for two straight weekends. As for the concept behind the prequel, I was really very excited to see how Pixar did college. The worst part about "college comedies" tends to be the fact that they are rarely similar to the actual collegiate experience. In this case, actuality was not a huge concern, considering the film stars MONSTERS...

Plot:
The entire focus of Monsters University was on the infamous Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal). Of course we learn the backstory of how he became friends with his partner, Sulley (voiced by John Goodman), but the plot was mostly "Mike vs. the world" or "Mike vs. wherever the monsters actually reside." While this theme was nice in the beginning, it got old after a while. Also, I was not pleased with the way they handled the "college life" of Mike and Sulley. Sure, Pixar has to keep it PG, but they could have at least thrown a joke in, here or there. But, it is what it is. My favorite thing about the film was the lack of any sort of romantic/love element, which I sort of expected with the collegiate theme for some reason. Pixar does a great job of keeping unnecessary romance out of the way, and I love it when a movie lacks a love story, because it is so rare.

Characters:
It's really hard to critique characters in a sequel or prequel, because most people already have their mind made up regarding who they like or dislike. But, if you think of Monsters University as its own film, it is easy to find some highs and lows character-wise.

Negatives:
While Mike is my favorite Monster, by far, Sulley is also quite likeable. However, in Monsters University, I did not think they really did a good job of building up the character that we have all come to love. You may disagree, but, in comparison to Mike (who was the focus of the film), Sulley just fell into the background and became unimportant. Randall Boggs (voiced by Steve Buscemi), who was the villain in Monsters Inc., was another character that I did not think was built up in the best of ways. Randall should have switched roles with Monsters University's obvious villain, Johnny Worthington (voiced by Nathan Fillion).

Positives:
As I said before, Mike is my favorite Monsters character, and that opinion was greatly strengthened with this film, as he was the only character who I thought was "prequelized" in a good way. While he was the focus of an unsatisfying plot, his character was great. The only other character that I loved was Art (voiced by Charlie Day), who was absolutely hilarious and stupid. He was basically a stoner stuck in a PG movie.

Conclusion:
Under normal circumstances, Monsters University would be a very satisfying animated film, but, when you are dealing with a prequel to a historically praised animated film, you expect greatness. Unfortunately, I wouldn't categorize Monsters University as "greatness." I don't want to discourage people from watching, especially if you loved Monsters Inc., but it just wasn't as great as what we have come to expect from the Pixar crew. The least satisfying thing about Monsters University was the lack of college humor, which I was really looking forward to. Sure, they used fraternities and sororities and admission issues, but they were not used in a funny way, for the most part. I give Monsters University 2.92 out of 5 stars, and I hope that Pixar soon gets its act straight.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Expectations:
After watching a mediocre 21 and Over, I was hoping that my next trip to theater would be a little more hysterical, considering it would feature my main man Steve Carell. As a huge fan of The Office, I have a special connection to Michael Scott and, as a result, Mr. Carell himself. In addition to that amazing character, I have loved him in so many films, including Bewitched, Bruce Almighty, Date Night, and Dinner for Schmucks. Because of this special love for Steve Carell, I will watch absolutely any film that he makes. I even managed to watch all of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World without running out of the theater, and that, my friends, was tough. My expectations for The Incredible Burt Wonderstone were not very high, and, this week, on Late Night, Carell admitted to the film being stupid, so I had an idea of what I was getting myself into. But, a film featuring Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, and Alan Arkin has no choice but to provide a few laughs along the way...

Plot:
While there were many good elements to this very silly plot, there was just a little too much going on. I liked almost every character, but the film struggled to build any character depth because of the sporadic and busy plot. While Carell's Wonderstone had a good amount of screen time, I think the film would have been better if he had more interaction with Steve Buscemi's Anton Marvelton and Jim Carrey's Steve Gray. The characters were great in there own respect, but their interaction throughout the film was unorganized and rare. If you remove the time that the film spent setting up a love interest for Wonderstone, there would have been more time for Buscemi and Carrey to use their talents. I know this film was not meant to be a witty or realistic comedy, but it would have been much better if the plot was refined a bit to better embrace the relationship of the characters.

Characters:
I know I spent much of the "plot" section talking about the characters, and, in this case, that is not a bad thing at all. The characters were, as a whole, what made the film laughable. Steve Carell, as his normally hilarious self did a great job of acting a bit different from his previous characters. There were a few times that I was waiting for Carell to embrace his inner Michael Scott, but he never acted like his "normal" funny self. However, he did sway from his Wonderstone character on a few occasions. He would start talking like himself, rather than using the Burt Wonderstone accent, which was blatantly obvious. Because of this odd change in character and attitude, I would say that Carell's performance was just mediocre. On top of that, the performances of Steve Buscemi, Alan Arkin, and Jim Carrey were also mediocre, which was quite disappointing.

Negatives:
Olivia Wilde's Jane/Nicole was very, very, very, very useless, and I did not understand why Wonderstone needed this obvious future love interest in this story. Also, why does Steve Carell often end up with younger women in his films (Keira Knightly and Anne Hathaway)? It just doesn't fit him. Finally, I don't like James Gandolfini.

Positives:
I want to give a special shout out to Jay Mohr for being funny for the first time ever. His turn as unemployed magician Rick the Implausible was quite hilarious, which greatly surprised me. The only other positives were the two actors who played the young Burt and Anton, Mason Cook and Luke Vanek. I really think the film would have been funnier if they were the stars.

Conclusion:
Compared to 21 and Over, I would say that The Incredible Burt Wonderstone was similarly funny. However, if you don't like Steve Carell, DO NOT go watch this film. The character of Burt Wonderstone is definitely a "Steve Carell character," and, knowing that my dad doesn't find Carell funny, I can see him roling his eyes throughout the entire film. Wonderstone was rather funny, but it could have been much better. Not to knock Olivia Wilde (she is an ok actress and fun to look at), but her character is what made the film so sporadic and killed the character depth. Also, if you are going into the film expecting a Jim Carrey classic, stay away. While Carrey is an integral part of the storyline, this film belongs to Steve Carell's Burt Wonderstone. I give The Incredible Burt Wonderstone 2.27 out of 5 stars.