Blu-ray Review: Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 3 (2018)

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Shining a light on the audience, before every Pixar feature, the studio reaffirms their commitment to short filmmaking not only through their latest offering – which dazzles us just before the main attraction – but within the Pixar logo itself.

Evoking an image from the company's 1986 animated short Luxo Jr. with that now iconic bouncing desk lamp, more than three decades and three volumes of short films later, Disney Pixar's passion for creative storytelling remains just as strong today regardless of running time.

In fact, looking at the thirteen films included in this gorgeously transferred, recently released Blu-ray combo pack, one could go as far as to say that while Pixar's blockbuster features still thrill, it's in the studio's non-franchise shorts where they take the most risks.

While many shorts still embrace some of Pixar's favorite staples including unusual paths to romance or family-centric tales of parents learning to let go as children come-of-age, with new twists on familiar themes, these personal and often jaw-droppingly ambitious shorts introduce us to new cultures, countries, traditions, and perspectives.

Kicking things off with one of the most moving shorts I've seen in a long time, Chinese-Canadian storyboard artist Domee Shi became the first woman to helm a Pixar short with 2018’s Bao, which mixes fairy tale structure (including a dash of Pinocchio) with her own background for this bittersweet saga about an empty-nester.

A perfect companion piece to Alan Barillaro's 2016 Academy Award winner Piper, the disc’s early films – including the inventive Lou from Dave Mullins which focuses on bullying – flow nicely from one to the next as they tell a story about aging children and parents struggling to assert their independence while staying connected to home.

In the thrilling entry Sanjay's Super Team, writer-director Sanjay Patel puts a superhero spin on the Hindi gods he prayed to alongside his father as a child when he thought he'd much rather be watching cartoons.

Checking back in with some of Pixar's most iconic movies and characters, while on the whole, the standalone franchise shorts are pretty hit or miss, Riley's First Date?, Party Central, and Partysaurus Rex from Inside Out, Monsters University, and Toy Story respectively are definite highlights.

Helping to balance out the mayhem of some of the wilder shorts (even if this volume goes in this reverse chronological order), Pixar proves once again that animation can appeal to adults just as much as children with Saschka Unseld's groundbreaking 2013 short The Blue Umbrella and James Ford Murphy's lyrical Lava, which was made a year later.

From the free will and heightened realism on display in Umbrella, where a love story plays out on a dark city street as inanimate objects guide two umbrellas together to the fated romance of a lonely volcano hoping to find someone to "lava," the two works use music incredibly well, whether augmenting Unseld's dialogue-free film or literally telling Ford Murphy's story through song.

Also featuring two bonus shorts and filmmaker introductions, this stunning collection of admittedly similarly themed but mightily different shorts is filled with the heart, empathy, and magic we've come to expect from a studio that's set out to bring us closer together under the warmth of Pixar's illuminating light as it captures, interprets, and reflects the emotional journey of life.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique. Cookies Notice: This site incorporates tools (including advertiser partners and widgets) that use cookies and may collect some personal information in order to display ads tailored to you etc. Please be advised that neither Film Intuition nor its site owner has any access to this data beyond general site statistics (geographical region etc.) as your privacy is our main concern.

Film Movement DVD Review: In Syria (2017) & Le Pain (2001)

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“Syrians seeking refuge in Europe right now have no choice but to abandon their homes and country. They all come from places for which we lack images,” In Syria director Philippe Van Leeuw explained in an interview, sharing that, with the Berlin Film Festival Audience Award Winner, he hoped to “shine a light on the dignity of civilian populations.”

Inspired by a real story a friend told him in 2012 about her father being trapped inside his apartment in Aleppo for three weeks as his neighborhood suddenly turned into a war zone, in the film, Van Leeuw ensures we feel the danger even before we see a single image by filling the soundtrack with explosions and gunfire that play over Syria's dark opening credits.

Set over the course of twenty-four frantic hours, in this neorealist docudrama, Van Leeuw pays homage to the man whose experience sparked the idea for the picture with bookended shots of a paternal character trapped inside his daughter-in-law's Damascus apartment getting up every morning for his ritual smoke.

Turning her one-family apartment into a barricaded shelter, with her husband away, Oum Yazan (Hiam Abbass) vows to protect her three children, neighbors, family, and friends at all costs.

Pinned down by snipers and jeopardized by bandits going from floor to floor, after Oum's house cleaner sees one of their temporary residents get shot at the start of the day, it's the first bad omen of more misfortune to come. With each resident knowing that if they get caught, they could risk everyone else, the group strives to get through their most dangerous day yet, hoping for either a chance to escape or ever illusive help to come.

Anchored by the always excellent Abbass (currently making her American small screen debut on HBO's smash hit Succession) and The Insult's Diamand Bou Abboud, Van Leeuw rounds out his cast with actual Syrian refugees.

Timelier than ever given not only the ongoing war and refugee crisis but especially because it coincides by the Trump administration's barbaric treatment of immigrants, without wasting a single frame, In Syria remains heart-stoppingly intense for its entire eighty-six minute running time.

Careful not to venture into exploitative territory during one especially harrowing scene, although Van Leeuw remains entirely focused on faces and actions rather than fill the entire frame with assault, the horrific extended sequence is sure to stay with viewers long after the film is over.

Under-reported in the states, Van Leeuw's powerful docudrama gives viewers a stark look at life during hellish wartime, all the while applauding the courage of everyday citizens to do whatever it takes to fight back and stay strong.

Rounding out the disc with Le Pain, a well-made roughly twenty minute short directed by and starring Hiam Abbass, while this pairing of feature and short from Film Movement is the opposite of uplifting, together they paint a wonderful portrait of the underappreciated strength of mothers who routinely put the needs of everyone else – especially children and men – before their own.

Centering on a tragedy that befalls a family after they move to the French countryside, as the first of four short films made by the star, Le Pain is a consummate work from 2001.

Intriguing and character driven, Le Pain, could very well have served as the first act of a feature in its own right that I would loved to have seen. And while it isn't likely to be picked up again now seventeen years later, I certainly hope its reemergence on this new Film Movement DVD will give Abbass more opportunities to tell the stories she wants on both sides of the lens.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique. Cookies Notice: This site incorporates tools (including advertiser partners and widgets) that use cookies and may collect some personal information in order to display ads tailored to you etc. Please be advised that neither Film Intuition nor its site owner has any access to this data beyond general site statistics (geographical region etc.) as your privacy is our main concern.

DVD Review – Looney Tunes: Musical Masterpieces (2015)

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Photo Slideshow
   

Although Merrie Melodies most likely began as Warner Brothers Animation's own Looney Tunes styled response to Walt Disney’s Silly Symphony cartoon shorts that dominated the Academy Awards during their triumphant ten year run from 1929 to 1939, WB’s Melodies struck a popular chord with audiences so much so that the series (which began in 1931) lasted until 1969.

Acclaimed one-reel shorts that thusly never ran longer than ten minutes, Warner’s Merrie Melodies define the golden age of animation for the studio.

Daring in their musicality yet familiar in their packaging, the shorts – which starred some of the Looney Tunes most beloved characters (from Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd to Porky Pig and Speedy Gonzales) –grew even more celebrated with each passing year.

Frequently serving as their youngest viewer's earliest introduction to the world of classical music, the Merrie Melodies, which also took their cues from (and likewise inspired) the feature length Hollywood musicals they played alongside theatrically, additionally helped pave the way for the rock docs and music videos that would follow.

Breaking cultural barriers, the eighteen animated shorts included in this one disc collection feature everything from jazz and opera to piano concertos and the blues, illustrating the diverse range of the series.

Framing the action as part of a chase in some of their most popular hits (not unlike the way their biggest 1940’s rival, Metro Goldwyn Mayer did with their historic Tom and Jerry releases), the ingeniously crafted Merrie Melodies made each and every genre accessible to viewers of all ages and levels of musical education.

Boldly removing dialogue here and there, such as in a bulk of the revered classic Rabbit of Seville, the master craftsmen working behind the scenes strove to bring the emotion of the music front and center with each successive release.

Yet as entertaining as the diverse titles were, one of Merrie Melodies' greatest achievements was in the way it would routinely drive home the fundamentals of rhythm and tempo right alongside the story's tongue-in-cheek plotlines and occasional lessons about empathy, hard work, respect, and love rolled into the laughs.

Of course, not every offering had a larger moral behind it as we quickly discover in the often heavily censored, violent Ozarks set square dance Hillbilly Hare.

Wisely lessening the shock value of the short, (which like a few others hasn't often seen the light of day as part of the overly crowded archive collection), Hare plays right after the 1957 Chuck Jones helmed masterpiece, What's Opera, Doc? that was selected as the "greatest cartoon ever made" in a 1994 research study voted on by a thousand professionals working in the field of animation.

No stranger to the art form or devising great chases, having directed some of the best Tom and Jerry shorts in MGM history, it's always a thrill to see the Jones classic in all its glory.

One of three Merrie Melodies shorts included in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry along with the Jones directed One Froggy Evening (which happens to be featured on this DVD as well) and Duck Amuck, Elmer Fudd's familiar strains of "Kill the Wabbit" in What's Opera, Doc? are instantly recognizable for generations of viewers.

Although it's missing Duck Amuck as well as the trio of Merrie Melodies that garnered Warner Brothers Academy Awards in the category of Best Original Short, the inclusion of the still heartbreakingly beautiful Nelly's Folly, among other rarities, is a bonus.

Nonetheless, the order of the shorts is a bit awkward in places throughout the lengthy presentation. For, following the intelligent back-to-back listing of two send-ups of Walt Disney's Three Little Pigs made fifteen years apart that involve a shared character, WB’s enjoyable Oscar nominated Rhapsody in Rivets, which plays best as a prequel to Rhapsody Rabbit is positioned eleven tracks after what should technically be its follow-up title.

Boasting optional commentary tracks for the shorts including a few multiple offerings and special features for some of the disc's most iconic works, Musical Masterpieces is a thorough release that will appeal to a wide array of viewers from children to casual fans and cinephiles alike.

And given that this is a phenomenal 133 minute plus introduction to the dying art of animated theatrical shorts, I only hope that this is just the first in a series of Looney Tunes: Musical Masterpieces releases that will make their way to DVD (or better yet, Blu-ray).

Created in the era of the talkie (as silent films merged with the music that was often performed live in movie-houses across the country), the Merrie Melodies collected here serve as an entertaining and informative reminder of just how innovative the field of animation, medium of short film, and particularly the genre of musical movie-making can be.

Text ©2015, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Film Movement DVD Review: Salvo (2013) and Rita (2009)

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  Photo Slideshow   

Addressing the stifling heat wave and resulting power outages currently oppressing the residents of Sicily, a male radio announcer exclaims that "there is no end to this hell in Palermo."

However when you consider that the line is heard early on in Salvo, you're quick to discover after only the first act that he might just as well have been setting the stage for and/or predicting the narrative effectiveness of this unusual crime film from Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza.

Initially it begins as a noble experiment to infuse the symbolic arthouse picture with a cross between Spaghetti Westerns and hardboiled Film Noir. However, Salvo takes what should have been an exciting premise about a hitman who comes face to face with his own humanity after he crosses paths with a blind girl (in what seems like a thematic and topical homage to director John Woo's contemporary classic The Killer) and squanders it on delusions of pretentious grandeur.

An Italian/French co-production, Salvo nonetheless did well during France's Cannes Film Festival where it took home a Visionary Award and the Critic's Week Prize.

Yet while the attention to sensory detail is a highpoint given the heightened ambient sound design from Michael Haneke's talented collaborator and some jaw-droppingly long tracking shots that seem to go on forever, all of the impressive techniques in the world can't hide the fact that despite its expressionistic beauty, Salvo has little (if anything) compelling to say.

A meditation on loneliness, Salvo forces its clunky symbolism of the literal and metaphorical "I once was blind but now can see" variety down our throat from start to finish.

Unfortunately, without any storytelling logic nor rhyme, reason or understanding of our characters to balance it out or make the over-the-top plot twist (in a largely plot-free movie) believable, ironically in the end it's mostly the viewers of Salvo who've been left in the dark.

Newly released on DVD from Film Movement, Salvo's disc features not only interviews with the writer/directors but also the 2009 short film companion Rita to this 2013 feature.

Focusing on the same core ingredients but shot with a greater emphasis on the (now younger) blind female character's point-of-view, Rita comes across both creepier and less sympathetically in its depiction of a girl who bonds with the man who just murdered her relatives.

Although the feature's treatment of this is handled with more poignancy and poetry to varying degrees of success, Salvo goes nowhere fast by offering us little insight or explanation to the who, what, where, when, why or how of what is otherwise a largely silent film.

More concerned with atmosphere and ambience as well as an art school student's devotion to symbolism and allegory, Salvo couldn't be less subtle if it were filmed in black and white, featured a Greek chorus, and/or a scene where its characters played chess with death.

Although their creativity is undeniable – in order to make vastly superior films and avoid the endless hell alluded to at the start of the movie – Grassadonia and Piazza would be better off relying on another to take their ideas and transform them into a screenplay that's well worth the time, expense, and effort of being brought to either short or full length cinematic life.

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Freshman - 1925 (Plus Short Films: The Marathon; An Eastern Westerner; High and Dizzy)

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You can tell a lot about a man by the way he shaves and this is especially true in the films of silent comedy star Harold Lloyd whose pictures often cast people as archetypes (including Lloyd’s most famous onscreen alter ego “The Glasses Character”) rather than individuals with given names.

Yet whether it was in one of his many one of two reel short films or a feature presentation, thanks to some of the wittiest screen cards of the silent movie era, Lloyd’s writers were able to ensure that the supporting characters remained both memorable and instantly identifiable against the odds.

By understanding the comedic potential of written jokes worked into the traditionally bland scene headings, introductions and narrative description that filled the screen with text to help fill the gap of inaudible dialogue, Lloyd's pictures – even more than those of his two main colleagues and cinematic competitors Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton – kept you laughing between the awe-inspiring scenes of silent movie action.

Whether we’re being told everything we need to know about a new character’s personality with the clever qualifier that the man shaves with a can opener or a blow torch or they’re describing the new university Lloyd’s character Harold Lamb attends in his most successful picture The Freshman as “a large football stadium with a college attached,” his films impress that much more.

And thanks to the extra layers of description worked into the frames, we’re transported that much faster into the exact mindset needed to best appreciate the admirable sophistication of the multifaceted movies.

Leaving his Chaplin/Tramp inspired early characters Lonesome Luke and Willie Work behind him, 1925’s Freshman followed up the potent one-two punch of classic pictures that preceded it including the mind-boggling “thrill picture” Safety Last! in 1923 that found Lloyd hanging from a giant clock and 1924’s comical Girl Shy which like The Freshman was also directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor.

Already responsible for setting off a horn-rimmed glasses craze of film fans who wanted to look like their favorite star, The Freshman likewise kicked off a new wave of college pictures in the mid to late 1920s, going onto inspire Buster Keaton to visit the popular terrain in his 1927 feature College.

Following the same formula of a young man’s coming-of-age journey or quest for success that’s nearly always epitomized by his Glasses Character’s adventures after leaving one place to find out what’s waiting for him in another (via the city or the old west etc.) – although on the surface, The Freshman is structurally similar, it was somewhat bolder than his other fare.

In addition to exploring the limits of stunts and physical sequences in his other films as well as the emphasis on better written, witty joke-ready narrative scene cards, Lloyd also sought to investigate the impact the film medium could have on its audience by way of his naïve, aptly named impressionable main character Lamb.

Illustrating the change in times in a move that was not only ahead of its time but still timely today, Lloyd’s Lamb buys into the manufactured happy endings he sees on the silver screen – obsessively watching a college-themed “Big Man on Campus” style feature multiple times to prepare him to become what he hopes will be the most popular student at school.

Doing more than just copying the actor’s wardrobe, Lamb rehearses a complex jig routine to perfection and begins calling himself Speedy after the man onscreen. After buying friendship with ice cream and lavish parties, Lamb learns much too late that the other students were only using him for their amusement by laughing at Lamb behind his back.

Finally discovering the vital lesson that being himself is much better than pretending to be a movie character (which is likewise reinforced by his adorable onscreen love interest played by Jobyna Ralston), Lamb gets one last chance to show his true colors and school spirit in an epic football game in Freshman's dazzling final act.

Although the big game finale feels contrived in retrospect given how much the device is used onscreen today, it's so well-choreographed that it still manages to impress nearly ninety years later in this gorgeous high definition restoration and Blu-ray presentation of The Freshman, which likewise inspires awe from start to finish.

Removing the old vintage film reel sounds of “snap, crackle and pop” and cleaning up any scratches, dirt and debris so that the images are virtually spotless, The Freshman rivals the recent Criterion release of Jules and Jim in terms of sheer technical quality.

A must for film fans, the three-disc box set which includes the work on two solid DVDs as well as the sparkling Blu-ray also boasts an informative critical essay and photo filled booklet with technical notes on the restoration and countless bonus features including three Lloyd shorts.

Recently restored to varying degrees of success, while 1919’s The Marathon suffers from a bit of racial insensitivity in an otherwise stellar production, the grainier yet more briskly paced two-reel western parody An Eastern Westerner made in 1920 is also notable for pairing him up with his future wife and frequent costar Mildred Davis.

Serving up new orchestral scores composed and conducted by Carl Davis throughout the films, the jaw-droppingly impressive final 1920 short “High and Dizzy” directed by Hal Roach is not only one of Lloyd’s most famous early “thrill pictures” but also helped anticipate the gags he would perfect three years later in Safety Last!.

Incorporating vintage interviews and television clips including Lloyd’s own introduction to the film and a tribute to the comedic actor featuring Steve Allen and Jack Lemmon, Criterion's Freshman set also offers behind-the-scenes commentary by scholars, archivists and critics to shine new light on his classic work.

A wonderful introduction to the man so often overlooked in contemporary film buff debates that far too often fixate only on a Chaplin vs. Keaton silent film star preference, The Freshman once again reminds the world why Harold Lloyd is worth remembering…regardless of the way he shaved.

   

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Short Film DVD Review: Lost and Found (2008)

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The penguin who shows up uninvited at the door of a young boy’s home in Lost and Found may not surf, sing or have dancing Happy Feet. But by the time the twenty-five minute short film is finished, Lost’s traveling penguin will have certainly managed to make viewers’ hearts beat in an utterly precious, downright magical adaptation of Oliver Jeffers’s beloved picture book.

A richly executed celebration of friendship that’s deceptively simple both in its storytelling structure and technical approach, Lost and Found may play well on a pure level to children but it’s as artful as a lost classic, drawing comparisons to Buster Keaton, Albert Lamorisse’s The Red Balloon and Mon Oncle era Jacques Tati.

 

Sheer animated perfection, Lost goes against the grain. Avoiding trends of wisecracking sidekicks, scatological humor, pop culture references, and dumbed down emotions in typical genre fare designed to reach those with the shortest of attention spans, Lost instead unfolds like a bedtime story beautifully told.

Read with compassionate conviction by Jim Broadbent, Lost and Found is brought vividly to life by Studio AKA with such amazing attention to detail that you can almost feel the warmth of the knit hat worn by the young hero.

 

Likewise, in a 2D sequence that nearly pops off-the-screen like 3D, you’ll feel the wildness of the ocean waves braved by the two in a tiny boat as the boy endeavors to return the penguin to the South Pole, only to discover that perhaps home isn’t a place but actually the feeling the two have found of friendship within one another.

Infused with obvious affection for the story they were trying to tell from all involved, this sweet, gentle hug of a movie also works as a palette cleanser for those tired of the over-used hero’s journey formula often found in contemporary animated fare.

Revolutionary in the way it cuts out gimmicks to get down to basics – having enough faith in the story it’s trying to tell to know that its themes will never go out of style or fail to translate to any culture or language – filmmaker Philip Hunt’s fearless adaptation has earned more than sixty awards from around the globe.

Having aired as a television special in the past, the short film recently released to DVD also features a behind-the-scenes documentary roughly the length of Lost that delves into the adaptation in greater detail.

Sure to appeal to viewers of all ages, Lost and Found earns its place among Pixar, Disney and Studio Ghibli classics, ultimately reminding us that although a penguin with talents to sing, dance or surf may be entertaining, in the end there’s no greater talent than being a good friend.

 
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Text ©2013, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Blu-ray Review: Monsters University (2013) and The Blue Umbrella (2013)

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Related Review
Monsters Inc. 

Although nobody does CG friendship quite as well as the studio that brought us the original Monsters Inc., this prequel to the Pixar smash takes viewers back to the days before Mike and Sulley were brothers-from-another-monster, back when they first met as rivals in Scare School at Monsters University.

Of course, those paying close attention may recall a line in 2001's Inc. that referenced a jealousy between the two stretching back to the fourth grade. But first time Pixar feature-length filmmaker Dan Scanlon and his talented team of roughly two hundred collaborators have chosen to let that snippet of dialogue fall-by-the-wayside (owing perhaps to Mike Wazowski aka Billy Crystal exaggeration), creating in its stead an absolutely delightful predecessor for the series that deepens not only their relationship but our understanding of the two as individuals.

 

Inc. was arguably Sulley's picture as it followed the emotional journey of the John Goodman voiced lovable Inc. employee Scarer whose fright-inducing fangs captured energy needed to run Monstropolis from the screams of "toxic" children he visited through magical doorways at night. Whereas his character found himself questioning all that he'd held true when a darling and not-at-all toxic girl followed him out of the doorway from the human world and into his own, this time around, Sulley takes a backseat to wide-eyed optimistic, over-achiever Mike Wazowski whose underdog plight to become a Scarer is chronicled from childhood through college.

 

Drawn to the hallowed halls of Monsters University after a Scarer he idolized (voiced by John Krasinski) gave him an "MU" cap on a memorable grade school field trip, Mike gleefully crosses each item off on his checklist with his eyes on the prize of the job that the audience already knows that Sulley holds in the future.

Assigned Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi) as a roommate -- therefore teasing that contentious relationship as well-- Mike is soon dismayed to realize that sometimes hard work and study just aren't enough to make up for what seems obvious to everyone else. Simply put, the adorable one-eyed little green guy just isn't all that scary.

 

The son of a legendary Scarer himself, Sulley is the epitome of everything Mike has come to envy. So assured in his natural ability to roar his way out of any situation that he doesn't even bother bringing a pencil on the first day of class, Sulley finds himself at odds with Mike as each monster represents the one thing the other one envies -- brains vs. talent.

 

After a fight in class gets them kicked out of the program, Mike fast-talks his way into one last chance back into the path to Scarer Superstardom, by teaming up with the least popular fraternity on campus to compete in the annual Scare Games... along with Sulley as a teammate.

Borrowing gags from classic campus comedies and riffing on traditional collegiate pranks, school spirit and higher education superstition, Monster's University is filled with the same all-ages friendly hilarity evident in other Pixar pictures. In fact, this one may play even better to adults than children who've experienced the environment firsthand and can quickly identify the various references onscreen from the hard-nosed dean (voiced by Helen Mirren) to a kiddie-friendly homage to Carrie in a frat house.

 

While it's all very diverting, similar to the original Monsters Inc. (and indeed many of Pixar's titles), University is particularly groundbreaking for addressing a contemporary idea subtextually by taking a postmodern spin on an old Disney promise that promised children generations ago that they could be whatever and whoever they wanted to be, if all they did was wish upon a star and believe it.

For as Mike encounters onscreen-- and indeed many people find out right around university age whether life or family get in the way with pregnancies, military deployment, illness or loss of a scholarship that prevents you from going to "the only school you wanted" etcetera--  sometimes life leads us down a winding path that's far different than the one we planned.

 

In a world where adults are expected to change careers roughly half a dozen times, there's no "final" thing anymore and the ability to adapt is a necessity. The sense of entitlement or "all or nothing" embodied by some in the post-boomer generation is given a rude awakening in college and for the first time that I can honestly recall, it's dealt with in an honest, humorous, wise and endearing way in a children's movie that makes Monsters University far more existentially meaningful than a typical viewer may expect when putting it on for their tots.

 

While, sure, those who've seen Inc. realize that Mike is happy working as a Scare Coach to Sulley at his dream place of employment, discovering the hard work and dedication that brought him there (through the mail room no less!) as well as watching him have to face the realization that his dream may be out-of-reach from a traditional perspective makes it that much more heartfelt, humanistic and rewarding.

 

Also featuring one of the studio's best short films in years in the form of writer/director Saschka Unseld's The Blue Umbrella, which --even before I became lost in Jon Brion's majestic score -- seduced this lover of parasols and rain on film instantly.

 

A Pixar spin on a French New Wave feature as imagined by Punch Drunk Love era Paul Thomas Anderson that also recalls the iconic "yellow vs. black umbrella" city sequences on How I Met Your Mother, The Blue Umbrella soon breaks free of its influences to dazzle audiences in the promise of a grown-up romantic animated work for adults (even more than kids) and the result is an utterly lovely short that's sure to be on the Oscar short list for shorts. 

 

Likewise, it made me wonder what Unseld could do if he took a cue from the umbrella and broke free, enlisting the others at Pixar to make a full length CG sophisticated romantic feature for grown ups as the studio has proven again and again that there's a market for their movies in fans of all ages and perhaps an under-served demographic as well.

Beautifully transferred to Blu-ray, the 3-disc release that offers viewers a digital and DVD copy of the film as well comes complete with a Maximizer test screen to help viewers ensure that their home theater audio/visual settings are at the right levels to make the most out of the lush colors and rich sound. Boasting an extra disc loaded with superlative behind-the-scenes Pixar extras (per the company's tradition), Monsters University makes a stunning addition to your high definition library. 

Text ©2013, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.