Monsters University

[PixarFan2006]

Changing Randall's personality and ruining Mike and Sulley's continuity (Saying they met in the fourth grade in the first movie and now having them meet in College) has me more worried.

[Sotiris]

New trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liLpmVDLvng

[Sotiris]

Ruining Mike and Sulley's continuity (Saying they met in the fourth grade in the first movie and now having them meet in College) has me more worried.

The director of MU has addressed the continuity error.

Monsters, Inc.' suggests that the pair have known each other since the 4th grade, yet in one of the trailers for the upcoming 'Monsters University', it clearly shows the pair meeting and greeting for the first time. The lines in question are, "You've been jealous of my good looks since the 4th grade, pal", from 'Monsters, Inc.' and the pair's introduction in the latest 'Monsters University' trailer with the line, "well now that we've been introduced..."

At a recent press junket, director Dan Scanlon claims that he and John Lasseter had always been aware of the line from the first movie and had discussed the issues of continuity. He claims that they devised several other storylines about them meeting in the 4th grade before a fast-forward to the college years, but instead decided that skipping over the early days of their friendship and simply seeing them in college wouldn't do the story justice. Scanlon claims that 'you sort of felt like you were missing [their] relationship grow', so made the difficult decision to have them meet at college so audiences could see their relationship blossom on screen.

[disneyprincess11]

So, in the movie, they WILL NOT meet in 4th grade?

[Patrick]

I feel like they easily could have made an edit to the story where Mike and Sully did meet in grade school, but lost touch soon after. Really a couple of sentences could have dodged the error.

[Sotiris]

I feel like they easily could have made an edit to the story where Mike and Sully did meet in grade school, but lost touch soon after. Really a couple of sentences could have dodged the error.

I believe so too. They didn't have to make them friends since grade school; they just needed to acknowledge they had met back then.

[disneyprincess11]

Yeah, and it's confusing because in the 1st movie, it CLEARLY says that they know each other since 4th grade. you can't change things like that in the sequel.

[Sotiris]

You can't change things like that in the sequel.

Well, they did.

[FigmentJedi]

And it's such a pathetic handwave too. I don't know why they thought doing a scene with them in the 4th grade meant they had to do more. Just establish that they knew each other years ago and that it wasn't a pleasant time and there you go. If you want to do more with young Mike and Sulley, just make shorts like Mater's Tall Tales or the Toy Story Toons.

[Sotiris]

Changing Randall's personality has me more worried.

Yeah, the 'bad guy used to be good' trope has been done to death.

[Patrick]

If you want to do more with young Mike and Sulley, just make shorts like Mater's Tall Tales or the Toy Story Toons.

That would be super cute.

[Kyle]

Pixar is employing a new method of scene lighting dubbed Global Illumination. Their rendering farm server banks were doubled to handle the load and were used for the first time in this manner on Monsters University.

What? global illumination is hardly anything new. They've been using it for many films now.It's probably most apparant in Toy Story 3 and UP, but it goes even further back. It wouldn't surprise me if they are using it more, and had to upgrade the render farm, but I don't see how they can act like this is some new form of lighting. Even I have experimented with it. (though not much, as it takes for freaking ever to render on my crappy setup)

Sometimes I think pixar and Disney go overboard with GI. It makes everything look quite soft as if things were shot on an overcast day.


Anyway, so they are openly retconing the original? UGhh. I would think Pixar of all studios would respect details like when they met. It seems like a little thing in context, but its really not.

[Victurtle]

Despite the continuity error, the change kinda sucks anyhow. A best friend with someone since 4th grade isn't the same as one from uni. I wonder how watching this film will change any perception of the first

Cars 2 certainly made me appreciated Cars a lot more!

[Sotiris]

Cars 2 certainly made me appreciated Cars a lot more!

Yes, because the sequel was much worse.

[GreatGreg]

It really doesn't matter if they retcon the 4th Grade. It wouldn't affect the story or the enjoyment of it in any way if they had added it or not.

In fact, Wazowski could have just said it as a throwaway comment in the original -- just an expression, and not necessarily true to life.

[Kyle]

It really doesn't matter if they retcon the 4th Grade. It wouldn't affect the story or the enjoyment of it in any way if they had added it or not.

In fact, Wazowski could have just said it as a throwaway comment in the original -- just an expression, and not necessarily true to life.

Nah. when you take what was said in the movie proper, and combine that with what was said in the initial teaser for monsters inc about passing notes to Susie Boils, its clear that unless they had their memory's swiped or something its going to contradict the canon of the original. I realize the teaser could be brushed off as just a teaser not necessarily in continuity with the actual movie universe, but when it lines up just fine with what we hear in the movie and your still jumping through hoops to rationalize it, that's a problem.

It might not matter to the average movie goer, but it matters because Pixar is usually above this.

I agree with Victurtle, if they had met in or before the 4th grade they would have a stronger bond. That bond played a role in the original thematically I think, subtle as it was.

[DisneyFan09]

Cars 2 certainly made me appreciated Cars a lot more!

Oh please, can't we just stop with the Cars 2 bashing? No offense, but I'm really sick of it! I won't say that it's the best animated film of all time, but I never thought it was that bad. In fact, I think it's underrated.

[Scamander]

No, it really isn't. It's like the script was written by some kindergarten kid.

[pap64]

Cars 2 certainly made me appreciated Cars a lot more!

Oh please, can't we just stop with the Cars 2 bashing? No offense, but I'm really sick of it! I won't say that it's the best animated film of all time, but I never thought it was that bad. In fact, I think it's underrated.

Story appreciation varies from person to person, so what may have been underrated for some may have been kindergarten crap to others, so to say one vision is "wrong" is silly. In my case, I think Cars 2 had two really solid stories ruined by being poorly merged together. The spy thriller would have been better as its own stand alone story, and without the cars playing the characters. The world grand prix story fits the Cars world perfectly, and would have been a great story for a sequel: Lighting goes off to compete in the race, brings his Radiator Springs crew, Mater is a constant embarassment, they both learn to work things out, and that friendship makes Lightning the champion of the race. The spy story simply clashes with the whole small town united motif the first movie had. So while Cars 2 is FAR from THE worst animated movie ever made, it does have problems.

Regarding the issue with the continuity between Monsters U and Monsters Inc, I tend to ignore the MI teaser trailer since the teasers are never representative of the final films, and often have concepts never seen in the final film (like how the Ratatouille teaser made it look like it was about Remy trying to find fine food in a Tom and Jerry manner, when it was about much more than that). But the line in the first movie, that's something that I have mixed feelings about, but ultimate I am not THAT enraged by it. The comment was very quick, so quick that the way I see it, it can be seen as both a random comment made to make light of Sulley and a comment on how long their friendship has lasted. It is a very brief line that serves both a purpose and a non-purpose.

There is an excellent editorial on Pixar Times that discusses that very same matter:
http://pixartimes.com/2013/03/26/the-pi ... ontinuity/

The short of it is that if the ONLY thing wrong with Monsters U is that it disregards the fourth grade line as being a random comment, and the film proves to be a worthy follow up to the first movie, then we are in for something special. It is a really good read.

[DisneyFan09]

No, it really isn't. It's like the script was written by some kindergarten kid.

Were you replying me?