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First reviews for MONSTERS UNIVERSITY rolling in.

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I liked Brave, but it definitely doesn't measure up to any of their best. Coming off of Cars 2 and before this, it seems like the golden age is over. :(

This. Ghibli has done several daring films. The closest for Pixar was Wall-E first half, sadly the 2nd half went into non daring route.

I would argue Pixar executed on their concepts better, though.

That said, they are certainly on the decline now. One of the biggest entertainment disappointments of my adult life. There was a time when I seriously considered pursuing animation almost entirely because of their studio. Oh well. If Brad Bird ever gets back to animation, I'm back in a heartbeat though.
 
You should really watch
'How to Train your Dragon' is Pixar quality
and 'Rise of Guardians' has a special place in my heart and is the most beautiful CG film I have seen

outside of that though.....

Both those are still "Here's a hero, watch him get smacked down, struggle to overcome problems, rediscover himself, and then beat the villain" type movies.

Not bad movies at all, just not compelling.
 
Never. Pixar has never done anything based on an existing property (except sequels to their own movies). Don't see that starting now.

Disney owns SW now. Not to mention you made the a good point - Pixar has been doing more and more sequels. When the sequel well runs dry they'll turn to other properties.
 
Disney Animation has become the new king, with Tangled and Wreck-It-Ralph. Still not as good as the best of Pixar, though. Sad to see them fall like this.
 
Welp. Their glory days have been over for a while now. Brb, I'm going to go make Pixar Cycle posters.

Their last good film was TS3.
 
On a slightly unrelated note, I watched Wall-E for the first time on the weekend. Perhaps the best film I have watched in years and I am not ashamed to say, as a 27 year old man, it made me cry.
 
Fixed.

Brave was mediocre bland and generic, at low tier Disney straight to video level, it was so by the book I couldn't believe it was a Pixar movie.

I agree with this.

You can't get any more generic than the whole "fulfill your destiny, become the person you were meant to be" story line. Maybe its my age, maybe I am just a grumpy old bastard, but I have had my fill of this particular theme in movies. Its played out and been worn to death. You need some other hooks in the movie to make it interesting, and I found none of that in Brave. I was damn near bored to tears when I saw it in the theaters.
 
Nothing could prepare me for the mediocrity of Brave. I'm almost certain I'll like Cars 2 more, which I still haven't bothered to see.

Disappointed with these reviews. I thought the early word was saying Monster's University was a return to form.
 
Pixar have a lot to live up to. I rewatched Rattatouille not long ago and I found it to be fantastic! I liked all the Pixar films from Toy Story through Up!

I liked Monsters, Inc. quite a bit and watched it at least 5 times. I was jazzed up about the prequel Monsters U - but the trailers turned me off to it, to be honest. Doesn't look all that good. Looks skewed at young kids and quick laughs with little of the heart/depth that MI had. Reviews are stating what I thought from watching the trailre. Will rent someday.

Also - I didn't see Brave or Cars 2 at the theater for the same reason. Actually, come to think of it , I never watched Brave. I liked Cars. I expected to hate Cars 2 but actually it had some moments - it was weak but not horrible.

the only other animated CG films I've liked a lot were the two Kung Fu Panda films which were AWESOME to me; and to a lesser degree I enjoyed HTTYD , found it was surprisingly good. All the rest are pretty mediocre to me.

I wish The Incredibles would get a trilogy just like Toy Story did.
 
Toy Story trilogy is the only Pixar that ranks really high for me.

Finding Nemo and The Incredibles are fun flicks but not these unparalleled works of genius that they (especially the latter) are held up as. Wall-E, Up, and Brave have moments of greatness that fall to the wayside for long stretches of typical kids adventure story. Ratatouille really annoyed me but I'm in the way minority on that one.

Never seen either Cars movie (and don't want to), don't remember Monsters Inc. or A Bug's Life well enough to judge.

Also: what's with all the Dreamworks hate? Is it just residual shit talking from people who stopped paying attention a long time ago? They've been making some pretty good movies the last few years.

Also also: Ghibli is on a much worse decline. They've only had one good movie in the past decade.
 
I still have high hopes :

To balance it out some more, here are some more positive reviews:


As far as Pixar films go, it’s the funniest and most engaging since The Incredibles, and the most emotionally affecting since Finding Nemo or possibly even Monsters Inc.*
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06/09/monsters-university/


So what is to be the Pixar team's Monsters University grade? It could not be anything other an outright distinction with this particular assignment. This is an achievement that will be tough to match.

A stunningly realized piece of work.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-wetherall/monsters-university_b_3397488.html

Continuing the detachment from childhood theme seen in TOY STORY 3, the creators once again ally themselves to an audience who grew up with talking toys, bugs and monsters who live on the other side of a cupboard door. Nothing short of brilliant, Pixar maintain their genius throughout, upholding their mantle and providing a film for all ages.
http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2013/06/10/monsters-university-review/
 
I like to think that the real Pixar died in that Toy Story 3 incinerator.

I don't know what the fuck this shit calling itself Pixar is.
 
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/monsters_university/

Almost a 100 reviews are in and the score should be pretty stable now.
Sitting at a decent 77% but with a rather disappointing average of 6.7.

Surprised there haven't been more impressions on the film on GAF, with the film being out in quite a few places already.

On a side note, this years animated crop is really not faring well with critics. Neither The Croods, Epic or currently this film has managed to even penetrate the 80% mark.
 
Thought this was very mediocre, save for the engaging last act. It's a step up from their last two films (what isn't?), but the first two acts rely on unfunny gags and a generally rote story. It's just another case where a prequel isn't necessary. I'd give it a C+.
 
Ratatouille and Wall-E have to be one of the best back-to-back runs in film history.

Sad that everything afterward has been a downhill drop.
 
Thought this was very mediocre, save for the engaging last act. It's a step up from their last two films (what isn't?), but the first two acts rely on unfunny gags and a generally rote story. It's just another case where a prequel isn't necessary. I'd give it a C+.

pretty much how i felt about the first one.
 
Saw this last night (8pm showing) with friends and I enjoyed it. It did call back to the first movie and was rather safe for the most part, but still it was good sequel. Probably what I enjoyed about it was definitely how they captured that 'college experience' as well as the friendship between Sully and Mike.

The Blue Umbrella, which is the short, was definitely better though.
 
This is what happens to a studio when it runs out of ideas. Mediocrity. Next up: Finding Dory. Yet another sequel.

Next up is an original film, A Good Dinosaur. Finding Dory is the only sequel announced after this among about 4 original concepts.

Not that I am excusing them, they have already made too many pre/sequels.
 
I liked the film. I thought it was funny, and avoided some of the common tropes in these types of movies. The ending took me by surprise. Also incredibly impressive from a tech point of view. "No, you can't be anything you want to be" is not a theme I expected from Pixar.

You expect them to win the big event and graduate with honors, but nope. They both get expelled. Dean talks to them both after and you expect her to let them back in, but nope, still expelled. All their success at Monsters Inc. resulted in them working their way up from the bottom.

The Umbrella short was a piece of shit outside the visual quality of it.
 
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