Monsters University

Directed by Dan Scanlon

(G)

***

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The team at Pixar studios “now seems to be in its Post-Masterpiece Era,” said Richard Corliss in Time. But that’s okay. This prequel to 2001’s Monsters, Inc. may be less surprising and emotionally rewarding than the magnificent original, but think of it as “a minor film with major charms”—not least of which is a school for the terrifying of children that’s like a “brighter, weirder” version of Harry Potter’s wizarding academy. The familiar scare team Mike and Sulley are back, only this time, “unsurprisingly,” the future buddies are rivals forced to work together to save their college careers, said Henry Barnes in The Guardian (U.K.). Billy Crystal and John Goodman voice the odd-couple pair “with evident love,” but no other character stands out. As effective as Helen Mirren may be as a fearsome dean, “there’s no depth to her haughtiness, no passion past her anger.” Fortunately, Monsters University suffers no shortage of “witty sight gags” and narrative momentum, said Justin Chang in Variety. And though it may be minor Pixar, it’s “as visually accomplished as its top-of-the-line brethren.”