Saw the big-time screening at LAFF. Easily one of my favorite films there (though not THE favorite).
As a fan of Monsters, Inc, it worked sublimely. All about exactly *how* Mike and Sully became the friends they are in the first film, and it does a wonderful job of telling a story about not getting what you dream of, and that being okay. As a fan of college movies, it works great. As a fan of the Blue Devils percussion section, it's awesome. Hell, Randy Newman even sticks some Brahms "Academic Festival Overture" into the score, for the people that will notice that.
As a fan of the Blue Devils percussion section, it's awesome. Hell, Randy Newman even sticks some Brahms "Academic Festival Overture" into the score, for the people that will notice that.
It was okay, and I enjoyed it, but it's not Pixar's best. I don't even think it cracks the top six or seven of Pixar flicks.
Which means it's still a solid 9/10 and head and shoulders above everything else from this year so far.
The ending is really what does it for me. There's a point where the movie could have ended - and most films would have settled for that, but Pixar keeps going and brings some hard lessons that make up the heart and soul of the story.
And it's also the funniest movie I've seen in ages.
Good as it is, it didn't floor me as much as Monsters Inc, one of my all-time favorites for its combination of original premise, inventive sequences, and especially sweetness and heart. Though I respect the "winners and losers" theme it tackles, I didn't find it quite as gut-wrenching and bittersweet at its core as the best of Pixar.
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