Monsters Inc. is one of my favorite Pixar movies and 12 years later the studio released the prequel, Monsters University.

The story takes the stars Mike and Sulley back to their formative years. We see Mike first, a very young monster on a field trip to Monsteropolis. He witnesses the master scarers at work and is inspired to become one himself. He hits the books hard and gets into Monsters University years later. This is where Mike and Sulley first meet and they do not get along. They take very different angles at scaring and butt heads at every step because of it. Mike has the book smarts, but lacks that special something to be effectively scary. Sulley is the son of a master and rides on his family’s coat tales to the top. But one scary face a monster does not make! Once they are forced into a corner by the dean of the school, Mike and Sulley realize that they work together far better than apart.

So is the story of how Mike Wazowski and James P Sullivan became friends and broke scaring records as an unstoppable team. This is a great return to the Monsters world. New monsters are all over as well as monsters from the first (seeing what turned Randall is great). The voice acting is great and complimented perfectly with Pixar’s legendary animation. Mike’s story is a particularly rocky one as he faces adversity at every step. He’s told time and time again that he will never make it, but pushes ahead to prove everyone wrong. While he doesn’t reach his dream goals exactly as he saw it, his smarts and attitude get him farther than any of his doubters thought. Sulley climbs the same mountain, but from a different side. The great friendship we see in Monsters Inc is born believably and sincerely in Monsters University.

With the few average movies Pixar has put out in the past two years, Monsters University is a strong return to form. The Monsters world let’s the studio go wild with their creativity and it’s all on display here. A lot of fun to watch, check it out!