Monsters University

http://monstersuniversity.com/edu/

I might've mentioned my love of Disney movies, and that in recent years, this love has only grown with the addition of Pixar to the Disney family.

As I confessed in my recent Monsters Inc. review, that movie is my favourite Pixar movie. Without doubt. Only challenged by Wall•e, which I love, but which only manages second place to the tale of Sully, Mike and Boo. So of course, when Monsters University was announced 10 years after Monsters Inc. I was thrilled. But could it live up to it's predecessor?

Monsters University starts by showing us a snippet of the young life of Michael Wazowski, a small monster with big dreams. He's never found his place in the world until he visits Monsters Incorporated on a school trip. He is immediately drawn into the world of the amazing scarers and decides there and then that he must become one. He works hard at school and makes it all the way to Monsters University, which is where he meets James P Sullivan, or Sully as he's known to his friends. Despite the knowledge we have of what great friends they become later in life, they do not see eye to eye at first. But in entering the Scare Games with a group of misfit monsters, they must work together to make their team good enough to make the grade.

I picked Monsters University as my birthday movie this year. I'm not sure if that put more pressure on it or whether I still would have had high expectations due to my love of the first movie. Either way, sadly, Monsters University did not surpass the high bar set by Monsters Inc.

It was still a brilliant sequel/prequel to the first film, and it was fascinating to see how our well loved monsters started out in life, but without Boo the film did feel like it was lacking something. As far as kids are concerned I have no doubt that Monsters University will go down a storm. There just aren't many jokes for the adults to enjoy. 

As ever with Pixar, the animation is superb. They've really shown off their talents with some of the new monsters, there's a lot of detail so let your eyes just feast on it all. And at the end of the movie, if you don't come away with just a little bit more respect for these cute, err I mean terrifying little guys, I'd say you've missed the point. 7 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 26th July 2013

UK Release Date - 12th July 2013

Cast Overview:

(If you don't like knowing who the voices are DONT SCROLL DOWN! ;0)

Billy Crystal ~ Mike

John Goodman ~ Sully

Steve Buscemi ~ Randy

Helen Mirren ~ Dean Hardscrabble

Peter Sohn ~ Squishy

Joel Murray ~ Don

Sean Hayes ~ Terri

Dave Foley ~ Terry

Charlie Day ~ Art

Alfred Molina ~ Professor Knight

Nathan Fillion ~ Johnny Worthington

Director ~ Dan Scanlon

Writer(s) ~ Dan Scanlon (Screenplay and Story), Daniel Gerson (Screenplay and Story) and Robert L Baird (Screenplay and Story)

Monsters, Inc. 3D

http://disney.go.com/monstersinc/index.html

My regular readers will know that I love Disney movies. My first cinematic memory is of seeing Bambi, and then being traumatised for life obviously. That aside, in recent years I have developed an even greater love of Disney Pixar movies. As the sister of an artist/animator I have always had an in-built appreciation for the painstaking process that goes into each frame, and I'm of the mind that Pixar's team not only pick out the best stories, but they animate them so beautifully that if you don't love them you must have a heart made of stone.

Monsters, Inc. was the first Pixar movie that I fell in love with. At that time I'd not seen Toy Story but even if I had I think Mike and Sulley would have surpassed any feelings I had for Woody and Buzz. The subsequent Pixar movies, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and even Wall.E were all wonderful but somehow the lovable monsters are always the ones I come back to. I will always remember seeing Monsters, Inc. for the first time. I was with my ex boyfriend and I cried like a baby when *spoiler alert* Boo had to go home. I still do. His reaction to my waterworks was less than understanding and made me feel ridiculous. I now refer back to my earlier statement that if you don't love them you must have a heart made of stone. It's now a requirement of any suitor that you have to have a love of Disney movies to date me.

So you can probably understand that with the impending release of Monsters University later this year, I was somewhat thrilled at the re-release of Monsters, Inc. in 3D.

For anyone who doesn't know the story, Mike and Sulley are the top team of scarers at Monsters Incorporated, the industry that makes energy for the monster world by capturing children's screams. One day Sulley finds a door, the gateway between the monster world and the human world, when the scare floor should be empty. He accidentally uncovers a plot by the second best scarer, Randall, to beat his score by kidnapping children. Meanwhile, the child Randall had planned to kidnap has escaped into the monster world. Believing children to be toxic to them, Sulley and Mike must try to find the girl and return her to the human world, whilst also putting an end to Randall's scheming ways.

Monsters, Inc. is not the most plot heavy of the Pixar movies but it's colourful and lively for kids whilst also having enough in jokes for the adults to keep them entertained. The voice actors do a fantastic job of making these characters lovable and memorable. And every time I hear the name 'Kitty' I will always well up a little bit. The animation is gorgeous, between the individual hairs that can be seen on Sulley and the expressions captured in Boo's perfect human face I can't fault the animators here one bit. It's all so well done.

If you haven't seen Monsters, Inc. I highly recommend it in 3D. And if you have, well then you know how great it is. Get down to your nearest cinema and see it again! 9.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 3rd February 2013

UK Release Date - 18th January 2013

Cast Overview:

(If you don't like knowing who the voices are DONT SCROLL DOWN! ;0)

John Goodman ~ James P "Sulley" Sullivan

Billy Crystal ~ Mike Wazowski

Mary Gibbs ~ Boo

Steve Buscemi ~ Randall Boggs

James Coburn ~ Henry J Waternoose

Jennifer Tilly ~ Celia

Bob Peterson ~ Roz

John Ratzenberger ~ The Abominable Snowman

Director(s) ~ Pete Docter, David Silverman (Co-Director) and Lee Unkrich (Co-Director)

Writer(s) ~ Pete Docter (Original Story), Jill Culton (Original Story), Jeff Pidgeon (Original Story), Ralph Eggleston (Original Story), Andrew Stanton (Screenplay), Daniel Gerson (Screenplay), Robert Baird (Additional Screenplay Material), Rhett Reese (Additional Screenplay Material) and Jonathan Roberts (Additional Screenplay Material).

Brave

www.disney.co.uk/Brave

I have considered myself a fan of Pixar's films since I first laid eyes on Sully and Boo. Sure I liked A Bugs Life, and hadn't yet discovered the joys of Toy Story, but Monsters Inc was the one that turned me back into a child. And it made me cry like a little baby.

I've gone to see every Pixar film since. I've laughed (mostly at the fun ones like Cars), I've cried some more (at Wall.E) and I've routed for a team of toys on more than one occasion!

So of course, when Brave was announced I couldn't wait to see it. Even though I didn't really know what it was about. Anyone who's seen the trailer will probably be scratching their head as much as I was. Let's just say that the bosses at Pixar have kept their cards very close to their chest on this one.

Brave is the story of a young princess in Scotland who has a very unladylike hobby. She loves nothing more than riding her horse and shooting things with her trusty bow and arrows. So when her mother tells her that three prestigious families are coming to their land to win her hand for their sons, she is more than a little against the idea. The princess Merida runs away as fast as her horse's legs will carry her and soon stumbles upon a witch who promises to solve all her problems. As tends to happen in these type of stories, the spell doesn't go quite to plan and Merida must work with her mother to try and undo what she has done.

I don't want to give too much of Brave's story away as the trailer doesn't at all really. What I will say is that it's not too complex for kids and not so dumb that adults won't appreciate it either. It's not overly sad for a Pixar film (no-where near UP or Wall.E standards) but one little kid in front of me balled his or her eyes out at the end. The animation is stunning as always. From the girl who loved Sully and just wanted to curl up in his beautiful blue fur I can say that the team have really pulled it out of the bag again with Merida's hair. What a stunning mane she has. Just take your time looking at those lushious locks of hers, you won't be disappointed that you did. 

Similarly stunning were the landscapes and the sky. Just gorgeous backgrounds on this film that really make it worth seeing in 2D. Yes you read that right. The 3D makes it darker so don't pay the extra for this film as it's really not required. The colours come to life in 2D so don't make the wrong choice by opting for 3D. 

It's not Pixar's best but it's stunning to look at and the voice work as ever is superb. 7.5 out of 10. 

  

Viewing Date - 19th August 2012

UK Release Date - 13th August 2012

Cast Overview:

(If you don't like knowing who the voices are DONT SCROLL DOWN! ;0)

Kelly MacDonald ~ Merida

Billy Connolly ~ Fergus

Emma Thompson ~ Elinor

Julie Walters ~ The Witch

Robbie Coltrane ~ Lord Dingwall

Kevin McKidd ~ Lord MacGuffin/Young MacGuffin

Craig Ferguson ~ Lord MacIntosh

Director(s) ~ Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman and Steve Purcell (co-director)

Writer(s) ~ Brenda Chapman (Story), Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brenda Chapman and Irene Mecchi (Screenplay)

Cars 2

http://www.disney.co.uk/cars

For the first of my two birthday movies I chose Cars 2. I have been a huge Pixar fan for years and really liked the first Cars movie, which followed the adventures of race car Lightning McQueen and his tow truck friend Mater. 

This sequel sees the addition of new characters special agent Finn McMissile, special agent Holley Shiftwell and oil tycoon turned eco fuel fighter Sir Miles Axelrod. Sir Axelrod finds his allegiances switched to natural fuel sources when he gets lost in the jungle. To advertise his new green fuel, Sir Axelrod devises the first ever World Grand Prix, in which Lightening McQueen finds himself called into the line-up by the Italian sports car Francesco Bernoulli. Mater comes along for the ride and soon finds that he is at the center of international espionage.

Cars 2 definitely picks up the pace on Cars, there's a lot more action, more characters, more plot and a whole lot more excitement. The characters feel like they get a much more equal shot of screen time rather than this being all about Lightning McQueen. Mater and the British spies have an entire plot of their own which works perfectly interspersed with the racing track scenes, which on their own would probably get boring after a while.

Kudos really goes to the background artists at Pixar who have done an amazing job of the backdrops of Tokyo, Italy and London. Each with their recognisable landmarks and lovely little touches which make these movies enjoyable for adults as well as kids. 

My favourite of the new characters has to be McMissile, with his 'tache shaped grille and kindly british accent he comes across as a sweet grandfatherly figure, but then he whips out his custom special agent weaponry and gadgets James Bond would be jealous of and you know you have a worthy hero on your hands. 

Pixar really are the masters of their craft with unmatched attention to detail, perfect voice casting time after time and ultimately, a sumptuous end film which will become a beloved classic for generations to come.

It's not the best Pixar movie to date but let's face it, they've never made a bad film. 7 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 26th July 2011

UK Release Date - 22nd July 2011

Cast Overview:

(If you don't like knowing who the voices are DONT SCROLL DOWN! ;0)

Owen Wilson ~ Lightning McQueen

Larry the Cable Guy ~ Mater

Michael Caine ~ Finn McMissile

Emily Mortimer ~ Holley Shiftwell

Eddie Izzard ~ Sir Miles Axelrod

John Turturro ~ Francesco Bernoulli 

Director(s) ~ John Lasseter and Brad Lewis

Writer(s) ~ Ben Queen (Screenplay), John Lasseter (Story), Brad Lewis (Story) and Dan Fogelman (Story)