I had the pleasure of working on MU as a kid as the voice of young mike at the start of the film. ill never forget the experience of recording at pixar studios 😊

*fun fact: the part where hes getting pushed to the back of the crowd saying “watch the eye!” Thats a line I made up while we were recording!

I enjoyed the fact that Sully and Mike didn’t get let back in but they were still able accomplish great things despite that: Mike was able to utilize his intelligence, Sully was ultimately humbled and had to legitimately work to get where he ends up.

MU truly does so much to retroactively enrich MI. You already pointed out how it makes Mike’s concern for his job and success make sense for his character, but one thing that I noticed was how MU makes the “mike is in advertisements and gets covered up but he doesn’t care” gag into something truly meaningful. Mike worked so hard to get where he is, there was a time where he didn’t think he could ever achieve this level of success, so the fact that he’s even able to be on TV and on magazine covers is a mark of pride, even if he’s not prominent in it. He plays a supportive role, it’s fine by him.

Monsters University says something that is hard to swallow but needed. Sometimes you cant just do something, sometimes something you want to do, no matter how hard to try is just not gonna happen. It says it in a way that isnt to demean you, but in a way to let you know that your skills can be amazing for something else.

I’m so glad Monsters University is getting the appreciation it deserves.

When I was a kid, I watched monsters university and never heard of the first movie. When I actually watched it, I genuinely thought it was a sequel to university. That's what makes a fantastic prequel in my eyes, where the original could work as a great sequel.

Mike basically lived most of his life with one goal in mind: work in Monsters, inc.
so when they get banished in the 1st movie, it's totally understandable why Mike would get THIS angry at their situation.

The "None of it matters?" line really hits deeper when you've seen how much Mike went through, in Monsters University, to get to where he is now.
Pixar is so good at telling the kinds of stories Disney would be too afraid to touch.

Sulley's also an interesting character to talk about because how unfocused he actually seems to be in any goal, he just has it rammed into his head he's supposed to be top scarer. He has the talent but no motivation besides peer pressure. I think it's interesting how in both films his agency is simply to go with his heart and his 'reward' is a friend thinking that particular area up for him. He helps Mike and he motivates him to work his way up to a respectable position in Monster's Inc. He helps Boo and she inspires him to use laughter to solve the energy crisis. Ultimately Sulley's end goal isn't even to be top scarer, it's to be the 'heart' of the company, the thing he was ultimately best at and most motivated by.

I can't really think of any other children's movies that carries the message "Some people won't have their big dreams come true, but it's okay because they can still have great lives".

What I love about how they did mikes character and his arc is how they handled him accepting the realities of his life, but he’s not just settling down into his life making it shitty. He’s actively having fun at his job, has a great relationship with an octopus mommy, and has a solid group of friends, at the end of the day Mike proves that you can live simply and be happy and be able to give to the world

While I wouldn’t QUITE call this movie a masterpiece, I still think it’s very unappreciated and deserves more love. Not only is Mike and Sulley’s friendship developed incredibly well, reminding me of Woody and Buzz from Toy Story 1, but it also teaches kids a very important message. That being that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just aren’t capable of achieving your dreams, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other options for you.

I like how it not only fleshes out Mike but makes his and Sulley's end in the original film more cathartic. Not only does Mike get to go through the doors and perform as good as everyone else, but Sulley is now head of the freaking corporation. It is a genuine success story, just not the way they expected it before. It fully shows that you can have crushed dreams and hard truths and, so long as you can accept them and get back up, your journey isn't over.

It makes Randall and Waternoose such interesting foils to the two as well, characters who were unwilling to take a new direction, believing the one they went for was all they had and going to whatever lengths and stepping on whoever they can to keep it going (tragically early pre-corrupted Randall likely could have made a great laugh monster).

Mike was never a side character.

I think something interesting that isn't brought up is how Monsters Inc. ends in relation to Monsters University.

Throughout Monsters Inc., it's shown that the company isn't doing so hot, hence why Waternoose let Randal do his freaky scream extractor stuff. It's also shown that laugh energy is WAY stronger than scream energy, with Boo managing to power a million doors with her laughter. After Waternoose is arrested, Sully is able to keep the company alive by using laugh energy and Mike has basically taken his old job, since, as the summer camp girl in Monsters University said, he looks funny. By the end of Monsters Inc., Mike has achieved the position he's always wanted, just without the necessity of being scary. As it turned out, the assumption that monsters needed to be scary to harvest energy was wrong. And, not only are the children doing better with this new energy model, monsters have more fun with it too, and still use their differences to fill different niches as they did before. Essentially, Monsters University challenges how monsters are valued based off of their scariness, and Monsters Inc. challenges how important scariness truly is.

I also just love some of the details in Monsters University, like the Abominable Snowman's comment that reveals what he was probably banished for. One I truly loved though, and I admittedly first saw pointed out by a comment on another video, was what Heartscrabble said to Sully about how a child afraid of snakes would cry instead of scream if a monster roared at them. In Monsters Inc., Boo's monster is Randal, a snake/chameleon-like monster, and when Waternoose makes Sully demonstrate his roar, what happens when Boo sees him? She cries. Heartscabble's perceptions were off, but she was definitely very knowledgeable on the subject of scaring.

time to re-watch Monster's Inc

This movie is the definition of the quote "shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars" Mike may not have gotten to where he wanted to be, but he still shines bright.

Just finished the two movies, mike has got to be the most inspiring character i have seen in a while.

The scene where he just goes into the human world to check if he can actually scare without cheating, was my favourite scene, as it shows that he does not fear to face his reality, he does not run away from it, and that is because he believes in himself and his hardwork. That is what makes him, as stated by Sullivan, fearless.

Hardscrabble as an antagonist is one of my favorites.
Shes very calm, collected, and capable, and it’s very easy to see that she flat out EARNED that record breaking scare of hers.
And I also love that in proving himself, Mike utilizes his biggest insecurity- that people don’t NOTICE him.

I’m glad more people are talking about MU
It’s such an underrated masterpiece