15 Most Underrated Movies Of The Decade (So Far)

15. Monsters University

Monsters University
Pixar

Nobody outside of Disney's merchandising department is particularly enthused about Pixar's recent turn into sequels. This was a company once lauded for its originality now pimping out their best loved characters for needless continued adventures; the next few years are going to see Finding Dory, The Incredibles 2, Cars 3 and Toy Story 4 hit screens. And, of course, the only thing worse than a sequel is a prequel; it's the same unnecessary expansion, but with the added problem of knowing exactly where the characters are going to end up.

By that logic, Monsters University should be the most vapid entry in the Pixar canon, retroactively ruining one of the studio's best films. Well, no, it isn't. And not just because Cars 2 is a pile of dross. It may not scale the heights of Monsters, Inc. (or any of the studio's earlier films), but University is definitely an enjoyable adventure, and the best film the studio's done this decade (of course, Inside Out with hopefully change that in a couple of months).

Rather than treating the first film as the "main" Mike and Sully story and obsessing over that connection (see: The Hobbit), University simply moves back a few years in the timeline, showing a believable meeting story for the two that doesn't really need any crutches; aside from Randall's arc nothing is in service of the first film. Instead, it's Animal House from Pixar, which is as fun and as observant as you'd expect.

Contributor
Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.