Monsters University (2013)

So ladies, and gents...let's look at the most recent movie I've seen. Monsters University, starring John Goodman and Billy Crystal...

So, a short synopsis...Mike (Billy Crystal) wants to become a "scarer" (the thing he is the Monsters Inc, go scare children to power the Monster world) but he isn't scary enough once he gets to college, so Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren, who I'll get to in a minute) kicks him out of the program.

The University has a thing called the "Scare Games" which is exactly what it sounds like, Mike and Sully (John Goodman) who has also been kicked out of the program for failing his final exam, make a team to compete with the "geeks" of the school...under the condition that if they win, Mike and Sully can join the program again, and if they loose, both of them leave the University forever. Well, obviously they win.

I don't think it was better than Monsters INC, by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it's one of the better Pixar sequels. Even if you don't like sequels, it's worth a watch. I enjoyed it.

But, what I wanted to talk about wasn't the movie, because I feel like there isn't anything to talk about that wasn't covered when the first film came out.

Dean Hardscrabble...is she a villain? I went to see MU with my boyfriend, and my 7 year old cousin...me and my boyfriend thought she wasn't a villain, just a cliche "mean dean" type thing, my 7 year old cousin was adamant she was a "bad guy".

I think the way you look at a lot of characters, but specifically Dean Hardscrabble, is how much "wordy experience" you have. Yes, DH was mean, no doubt, but I've dealt with people worse, even deans worse, for that matter. Ben, my cousin...the meanest person he's ever met is probably my Aunt when he's told "No."

His naive view on the world made him believe Dean Hardscrabble was a villain, while Mine and Chris' non-naive view of the world made her seem.....simply, human. (monster, whatever..you get my point).

I don't think Helen Mirren created a bad character, quite the contrary, I thought she was excellent...whether or not she's a villain or not. But she created a character with layers...the dean is simply trying to do her job and not play favorites, even though it mentions several times that Sully, is from a family of "scarers"

Either way, kid, adult, villain or not...it's worth a look.