Hello, world. I’m MacDara Conroy, and this is my blog.


My Letterboxd review of Monsters University

Reblogged from my Letterboxd list:

So I wasn’t expecting much from this one, especially with recent Pixar fare doing nothing for me (Brave, especially, looks under-detailed and poorly textured, while its story falls on the ‘but she’s a modern Disney princess’ conceit that holds no water when you consider the likes of Belle in Beauty and the Beast, etc). But Monsters University might be my favourite Pixar film.

It’s easily their most visually striking. The trees, the asphalt, the stone, the chrome – they all look so real! Even the monsters themselves, while conforming to the ‘Pixar body shape’ trope, have differing skin textures to subtly distinguish from each other. And there’s a hint of tilt-shift on the ‘camera’ that gives the whole production an almost stop-motion vibe. Amazing work by the Pixar team there; their friends down in Burbank should take note.

But the story is there, too. I stopped thinking of it as a prequel fairly early on (and who really needs Sulley and Mike’s backstory, anyway?) because it’s way more a homage to ’80s ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ style campus comedies. It’s a fun ride that feels genuine and unforced, completely aware of its cliches but played with affection, without a trace of jaded hipster irony. I think of ParaNorman as another recent animated feature that goes along the same lines, and I feel like Monsters University sits alongside it at the pinnacle.