5. World Building
From the earliest trailers, it was made clear that we would be seeing a new side to the monster world. As any good sequel (or in this case, prequel) should do,
Monsters University expands the universe it is set in and shows us something we haven't seen before. While the first film had our heroes in the workforce, this one looks to show us how they got there. It's a question I'm sure some of us had watching the original
and it's one Mike himself asks in this film.
How do they become scarers? It's an interesting story thread to explore and it was amusing to learn that monsters had to study scaring in college just like we humans have to major in something when we go to school. Pixar did a terrific job of making the university come to life and adding a new element to this franchise. Mike's first day at school is set up very similar to the sequence in
Monsters, Inc. where Mike and Sulley walk to work. The audience is immediately transported to a whole new world. The campus is beautifully crafted and looks great (as expected from Pixar), but it's the little details like the wide variety of monsters attending and clubs to sign up for that make it feel real. Anyone who has gone to college should find something to enjoy in these early moments. Outside of maybe
The Incredibles, the only non-sequeled Pixar film that really warranted another movie was
Monsters, Inc. because there was still so much of the monster world we had not seen. I'm happy that we got this opportunity to explore some new aspects of Monstropolis in this film.