Monsters University Movie Review

On Monday June 17th my family and I went to an advance screening of Disney and Pixar's new movie, Monsters University (the prequel to Monsters Inc.), in Disney Digital 3D for free to facilitate this review. We also got free movie posters and stickers for the kids.

We went to the beautiful Regal Bridgeport 18 theater in Tigard Oregon to see the movie on the big screen. They have a gorgeous layout inside Bridgeport Village, an outdoor shopping and restaurant complex, complete with a fountain, play structure and gazebo. The theater there features state of the art surround sound and comfortable stadium seating. We were excited to go to see Monsters University there because we absolutely love that particular theater!

We got to the theater and situated ourselves just in time for everything to start. The theater had booster seats, that fastened to the theater seats with Velcro, for my two smallest so they could see the movie better. We were given complementary 3D glasses to watch the film with and I was very happy to see them in two sizes, child and adult, instead of just the "one size fits all" ones we had seen before.  My family enjoyed every moment of this animated film. The 3D was awesome and even though we were up close to the screen as soon as we put on our 3D glasses we could enjoy everything in clear definition.

It was fun watching my youngest, Zari, (she's 2) who was sitting right next to me, try to grab the stuff popping out at her while she was wearing the 3D glasses. Her reactions to the things going on in the films were priceless. She hadn't ever seen a 3D movie before and she did very well at keeping the glasses on.

Before the feature film there was a theatrical short called The Blue Umbrella. This was also done by Pixar and featured new techniques in photo-realistic: lighting, shading and compositing. We loved The Blue Umbrella. It was very cute to see the inanimate objects in the New York like city come to life to help two umbrellas come together in a windy rainstorm.

Monsters University was fantastic! The animation is superb! For the university campus Pixar visited Cal (UC Berkeley), Harvard and MIT for inspiration and research and then spun monster flare into the design. The monsters, architecture and landscaping have crazy detail.

Pixar captures college life perfectly! Besides the awesome MU campus you really get a snapshot of campus life. From the different social groups to college gags and team spirit to the awesome marching band music, this is a movie that will have you reminiscing about your college days.

You also get to see characters Mike, Sulley, and Randall evolve into what they become in Monsters Inc. We see Mike Wazowski as a little boy and how Mike and Sulley's friendship started. You also get to see why Randall becomes enemies with both of them.

There are a lot of feel good morals in this movie. We see friendship, teamwork, cooperation, honesty, determination, motivation, inspiration, passion, following your dreams, believing in yourself, helping others to believe in themselves, having a positive attitude, consequences of actions, etc. These themes are intertwined throughout and are the essence of the movie.

We all loved the movie and my kids now want to get it on DVD when it comes out. My boys told me that their favorite part was when Terri and Terry Perry, the two headed monster from Oozma Kappa, told the girls from PNK good luck in the Scare Games. Teela's favorite part was the library scene in the Scare games. Zari's favorite part was where Sulley and Mike were trying to capture the Fear Tech mascot, Archie.

After the movie was over my husband, Brian, took our pictures by the Monsters University theater display. My boys were pretending to be a two headed monster in this shot, LOL! Then as we were heading out the door the person that checked us in as VIPs stopped us to give us some movie posters and stickers for our kids as souvenirs. He had us pose with the memorabilia and with his camera he took our picture saying that Disney loves seeing their happy fans. I then gave him my camera to also take a similar shot. (So...who knows...Disney might have gotten a picture of my family emailed to them...and it might show up somewhere someday.)

On June 21st, My husband's birthday, Monsters University will officially hit theaters for the general public. If you haven't seen them, look up the trailers to the movie to see a preview of how great the movie will be. This movie did not disappoint and I highly recommend you seeing it on the big screen in 3D if you can.

About Monsters University...
Opening Date: Friday, June 21st
Rating: G
Running Time: 103 Minutes

Synopsis: Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan are an inseparable pair, but that wasn’t always the case. From the moment these two mismatched monsters met they couldn't stand each other. "Monsters University" unlocks the door to how Mike and Sulley overcame their differences and became the best of friends.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received complementary movie tickets to go to this movie for free with my family to facilitate my review. We also got free movie posters and stickers for the kids. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.