As any fans of Pixar’s films will know, their next feature will continue their recent spate of non-original films (this year’s Brave being the exception) with the upcoming prequel Monsters University. Details are predictably scarce, but a few new tidbits of information have slipped through the void, courtesy of an EW interview with Billy Crystal.
We already know the basic premise of Monsters University; if not from the title, then at least from the four teasers released in June. The film follows Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan before the events of 2001’s Monsters Inc. and how they went from insufferable enemies to inseparable friends. Crystal, who returns with John Goodman to the roles of Mike and Sully respectively, told EW:
“[Mike and Sully] end up in the same fraternity where they have this scare competition — like Greek Games in college. They have to mobilize a group, sort of like Revenge of the Nerds-monsters, and get them ready to be scary.”
It also appears that good old teenage awkwardness will also be a major source of humour for the film, with the pair a mere “17 and 18 years old in the script”.
“My guy has a retainer, even,” says Crystal.
The name Pixar used to operate in tandem with the phrase ‘guaranteed quality’, but that standard has slipped recently. The studio’s focus on returning to existing IPs could well be its undoing (just look at the reception of Cars 2), though Toy Story 3 perhaps juxtaposes that supposition.
Then again, Brave, its first original film in three years, has also received a lukewarm reaction from critics – at least in comparison to other Pixar titles. So with the critical success of the original (a factor Cars 2 did not share), perhaps Monsters University is the film to get things back on track.
Are you looking forward to Monsters University when it hits cinemas on June 21, 2013? Let us know in the comments below.
