 Leonard Maltin of IndieWire praised the animation and art direction , but wrote that he wished " the movie was funnier and wasn 't so plot @-@ heavy " and that " Pixar has raised the bar for animated features so high that when they turn out a film that 's merely good , instead of great , they have only themselves to blame for causing critics to damn them with faint praise . " Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four , saying " Monsters University , the weirdly charmless sequel to the animated 2001 Pixar hit Monsters , Inc . , is no better or worse than the average ( and I mean average ) time @-@ filling sequel cranked out by other animation houses . " Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review , saying that it " never surprises , goes off in unexpected directions or throws you for a loop in the manner of the best Pixar stories . Nor does it come close to elating through the sheer imagination of its conceits and storytelling . " Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film three stars out of four , and said it " may not be as inventive as Inc . , but it 's an amusing and amiable addition to Pixar 's roster of animated coming @-@ of @-@ age stories . " Michael O 'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film three stars out of four , saying " It may be children 's terror that powers the movie 's fictional universe , but it 's the energy of its stars that lights up Monsters University . " Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A − and said it " is exactly the rebound Pixar needed after 2011 's Cars 2 left some wondering if the studio had lost its magic . The delightful story of when Mike met Sulley puts those concerns to rest . " James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film three stars out of four and wrote " Although it falls short of the best Pixar has brought to the screen over its long association with Disney , it 's nevertheless worth a trip to the theater , especially for kids . " 
