Trailer Trashin’: Class is Now in Session at Monsters University

It’s almost here, dear readers. With the Academy Awards this coming weekend, we’re almost to the end of February and the beginning of the season for what will hopefully be good movies. This week’s Trailer Trashin’ takes a look at one of those upcoming releases, with the new UK trailer for Pixar’s Monsters University.

Premise: Set about ten years before the events of Monsters, Inc., 18-year-old James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (voice of John Goodman) and 17-year-old Michael “Mike” Wazowski (voice of Billy Crystal) meet in college and are members of the same fraternity, while planning to become scarers at Monsters, Inc. While they start as rivals, they eventually become the best of friends.

My take: In a movie landscape that is often filled with uncertainty, Pixar Animation Studios stands as a beacon of quality. While they may no longer be scaling new heights of animated storytelling with every film they release, they still have one of the best track records of any major Hollywood studio. Their next release for this year is Monsters University, a prequel to Monsters, Inc. (2001). There’s a new UK trailer out for the film, and I think it looks like another solid entry in the Pixar canon.

In terms of the voice cast and characters, the big focus is obviously on John Goodman as Sulley and Billy Crystal as Mike, both reprising their roles from the first film. The chemistry between Goodman and Crystal was such a big part of why Monsters, Inc. worked so well, and it’s great to see, or rather hear, them working together again. Also returning from the first movie, but not seen here, are Steve Buscemi as Randall Boggs, Frank Oz as Jeff Fungus, Jennifer Tilly as Celia Mae, Dan Gerson as Smitty and Needleman, and Pixar mainstay John Ratzenberger as The Abominable Snowman. Another returning character not seen here is Henry J. Waternoose III, the CEO of Monsters, Inc., with Kelsey Grammer taking over the role from the late James Coburn. New additions to the cast include Helen Mirren as Dean Hardscrabble, Joel Murray as Don Carlson, Ken Jeong as Mack, Rob Riggle as Kenny, and J.B. Smoove as Harold – although since we don’t know what any of these new characters look like, I’m not sure if any of them can be spotted in this trailer.

Pixar seems to be well within their comfort zone here, and what we’ve seen so far looks quite funny and entertaining. Even though Goodman and Crystal are about twelve years older than they were when they first played these parts, their voices still fit the characters so perfectly that I couldn’t see anyone else in the roles. What we’ve seen of the rest of the characters makes them look like they should also be fun, and I’m interested to find out more about them. And I have to say that I never expected to hear a Mötley Crüe song in a trailer for a Pixar film, so kudos to whoever made that decision.

However, the film does have one fairly big strike against it. Like all prequels of this type, we have an idea of what’s going to happen before we go in. In the case of Monsters University, we know that by the end of the film Mike and Sulley will be friends, Sulley and Randall will be rivals, Mike and Celia will be beginning their relationship as a couple, and all of them will be starting their jobs at Monsters, Inc. But even though we know the ultimate destination, we don’t know the exact nature of the journey the characters will take, and there’s still plenty of room for surprises. Even though we basically know how things will turn out, that doesn’t mean we won’t enjoy getting to that point.

Pixar may be going back to familiar ground with this film, but I still think we’re in for an entertaining and enjoyable movie. While some people may have been ready to write the studio off after Cars 2 and Brave, I think that is short-sighted and foolish. Pixar still has a great track record, and even their lesser efforts are still better than a lot of what Hollywood churns out. When all is said and done, you can definitely expect me to be checking out Monsters University when it debuts in June.

ANTICIPATION: I’m quite eager to apply at this particular university.

Release Date: June 21^st, 2013

Starring the voices of: John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, Kelsey Grammer, Frank Oz, Dan Gerson, Dave Foley, Julia Sweeney, Helen Mirren, Peter Sohn, Joel Murray, Ken Jeong, Rob Riggle, J.B. Smoove, Jennifer Tilly, and John Ratzenberger
Director: Dan Scanlon