Awards Season Recap: Monsters University

This awards season, unfortunately, has been a rather disappointing one for Pixar, as their brilliant but underrated feature Monsters University has been largely ignored by most notable award organizations. The film was downright snubbed by the Golden Globes and the Oscars this year, who for some reason preferred arguably weaker films like Despicable Me 2 and The Croods.

The Monsters prequel has, however, received some recognition from less-known organizations, and it did win a couple awards at the Annies, where it had a total of 10 nominations and ended up taking home the awards for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production and Editorial in an Animated Feature Production. It was nominated for, but ended up losing, the following Annie Awards:

• Best Animated Feature
• Animated Effects in an Animated Production
• Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production
• Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
• Music in an Animated Feature Production
• Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
• Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski)
• Writing in an Animated Feature Production
• Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

Way back in October, the film also won a Hollywood Animation Award at the 17th Hollywood Film Awards. Unfortunately, it hasn't won anything outside of that and the Annies, but it has at least been nominated for several other awards including:

• Best Edited Animated Feature Film - American Cinema Editors
• Best Animated Film - British Academy Film Awards
• Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures (Animated) - Cinema Audio Society Awards
• Best Animated Feature - Critics' Choice Movie Award
• Best Animated Feature Film - Denver Film Critics Society
• Best Animated Film - International Cinephile Society
• Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures (Kori Rae) - Producers Guild of America Award
• Best Animated Feature - San Francisco Film Critics Circle
• Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media - Satellite Awards
• Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture and Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture - Visual Effects Society Awards
• Best Animated Feature - Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association

Awards are marvelous things, it's never a bad thing to give recognition to a filmmaker, actor, artist, or studio for their outstanding work. However, let's not forget that a film's (or a director's, actor's, etc.) greatness is not really determined by the number of accolades it earns. Films are meant to entertain, so shouldn't their greatness instead be determined by the joy they bring to people across the world? As the wise Doc Hudson would say, an award is "just an empty cup".

Congratulations to Dan Scanlon and the entire cast and crew for crafting a truly remarkable film with an exceptional message, a film that I hope will gain more recognition as it ages.

A Week Full of Monsters

Oh boy. It's been raining Monsters University news like crazy this week. We got the new trailer on Monday, but that was only the beginning. Check out some of the other monstrous news that has surfaced this week.

First off, you can head on over to this link and take a neat 10-question quiz on the latest MU trailer. See how high you can score, but be warned, you'll have to pay really close attention to lots of tiny details in the trailer!

The wonderful John Goodman (voice of lovable James P. Sullivan) was on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Monday night, where he talked about some of his upcoming films, including MU of course, and the interview also brought us an extended 40-second clip from the film, from the scene where Mike and Sulley first meet. You can watch it below at the 2:10 mark, although I do recommend watching the whole interview. The clip is great and it'll make you wish June 21 was tomorrow!

Also on Monday was this year's Toy Fair event in New York, where Disney unveiled the toy line for Monsters University, and I must say, the toys look fabulous. I personally have very fond memories of the toys for the original film, so I'll definitely be on the lookout for a lot of these, particularly the Funko Pop! Vinyl figures. Head on over to The Pixar Times, they've got some awesome coverage and pictures from the event!

Look for these MU toys and more in stores this spring!

Disney Living also uploaded the following videos: the first one is of Pixar honcho and toy fanatic John Lasseter going over a few of the toys that were revealed this week, and the second is a short recap of the MU panel at the Toy Fair. Check them out below.

Not only were the toys for MU unwrapped at the Toy Fair, but some of the film's cast and crew, including director Dan Scanlon, producer Kori Rae, and star John Goodman, were also there to talk about the new film, and provided a sneak peek at some of the new characters that will make their on-screen debut in this year's Monsters prequel.

Photo credit: The Pixar Times

The new characters include aspiring scarer Don Cartlon (voiced by Joel Murray), bickering brothers Terri and Terry (voiced by Sean Hayes and Dave Foley, respectively), the adorable Scott "Squishy" Squibbles (voiced by Pixar's own Pete Sohn), and the hilariously abnormal Art (voiced by Charlie Day). With all these fantastic new additions along with classic favorites from the original film returning, it sure looks like Monsters University already has quite the unforgettable cast of characters!

That's all for now folks, but stay tuned as we are sure to get even more MU news in the months to come as June 21 quickly approaches!