Best/Worst movies of 2013

Monster’s University: BEST

In an era of “meh” animation sequels (“Cars 2,” “Toy Story 3,” etc.), Pixar managed to get at least one movie series very, very right. Often sequels or prequels take the easy way out and simply remake a successful movie like “Cars” with a slightly different plot, but “Monsters University” does no such thing. With the same entertaining perspective on the average closet-monster’s life, the prequel to the immensely popular 2001 Pixar movie “Monster’s Inc.” deviates from the original story just enough to be a funny movie of its own, rather than just another stereotypical “origins” sequel. The movie also focuses on painting a more complete image of Sully and Mike, two extremely well developed characters to begin with, which if anything adds to the worth of the first movie, something you might want to rewatch after this.

 

Planes: WORST

Everything about “Planes” would make a Pixar fan mad. First, it isn’t even a Pixar film, despite the “Cars” logo slapped on it. This movie is a product conceived purely by Disney’s marketing department to sell toys to toddlers. The movie takes place in the same world as “Cars,” but the terribly predictable and childishly simple plot detracts from the experience of the movie immensely, and the few moments in which the movie shines are totally overcast by the fact that they are shoved in haphazardly every half hour to prevent viewers from walking out of the theater. For the same reason that “Cars 2” is considered to be the worst Pixar movie by the vast majority of movie reviewers, “Planes” is even worse. The original Cars movie was funny and imaginative because of the car puns and the cars being personified in human situations, but three movies just can’t —  and shouldn’t be — milked off of those ideas, and so “Planes” is one of the absolute worst movies of 2013.