History YMMV / MonstersUniversity

** [[spoiler:The Adominable Snowman]]'s suggestion that mail tampering would result in banishment is PlayedForLaughs here. In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'', it's revealed [[spoiler:Abominable was banished after [[CerebusRetcon discovering a letter implicating Waternoose in the scream extractor scheme]]]], making the joke not so funny anymore.

* {{Moe}}: Little Mike. Also, Squishy. To some extent, young Randall due to being a cheerful but nervous [[Nerd]] with [[NerdGlasses]]. But then he joins Roar Omega Roar... And depending on who you ask, the Perry brothers as well.

* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Randall and Mike. They're complete nerds who the characters don't take too seriously but they come across as very {{Adorkable}} to many fans, with Randall's cheerful and nervous nature, [[NerdGlasses]] and excitement about making friends in particular being seen as endearing by many fans.

* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Randall and Mike. They're complete nerds who the characters don't take too seriously but they come across as very [[Adorkable]] to many fans, ''especially'' Randall.

* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Randall and Mike. They're complete nerds who the characters don't take too seriously but they come across as very Adorkable to many fans, ''especially'' Randall.

* {{Moe}}: Little Mike. Also, Squishy. To some extent, Randall due to being a complete [[Nerd]] (with [[NerdGlasses glasses]] to match). And depending on who you ask, the Perry brothers as well.

* {{Moe}}: Little Mike. Also, Squishy. And depending on who you ask, the Perry brothers as well.

* VindicatedByHistory: Though still considered SoOkayItsAverage by some, overall opinions of the movie have improved quite a bit over the years, in no small part to its' Aesops [[ValuesResonance becoming more important overtime]].

* ClicheStorm: As a few detractors like Creator/DougWalker point out, the film feels like an amalgamation of college film tropes with the main characters not getting along due to polar opposites before understanding each other by the end, the sports tournament setup, and the competitive jocks that only has uniqueness due to the setting. Of course, what matters is if viewers do not see clichés as distracting from the quality. Many also agree that the predictable buildup is somewhat offset by the climax and very raw final message.

* ClicheStorm: As a few detractors like Creator/DougWalker point out, the film feels like an amalgamation of college film tropes with the main characters not getting along due to polar opposites before understanding each other by the end, the sports tournament setup, and the competitive jocks that only has uniqueness due to the setting. Of course, what matters is if viewers do not see clichés as distracting from the quality.

** Fans either thought the movie had a bad message to send to children, or others thought that it was brutally honest and healthy in manners of the Brothers Grimm philosophy ("You don't always have qualities to live your life-long dream, but you'll eventually find your calling.")

** Points also scored for getting Swedish House Mafia to compose the frat party song "Roar."

** The end credits make the humorous implication that Abominable/Adorable Snowman was banished for tampering with mail he wasn't supposed to. ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'''s 7th episode revealed that [[spoiler:he was actually banished because he caught wind of a mail letter that exposed the Scream Extractor Plan and Waternoose silenced him for it through his banishment]]

** The end credits make the humorous implication that Abominable/Adorable Snowman was banished for tampering with mail he wasn't supposed to. ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'''s 6th episode revealed that [[spoiler:he was actually banished because he caught wind of a mail letter that exposed the Scream Extractor Plan and Waternoose silenced him for it through his banishment]]

* CrazyAwesome: Art. Kicking things out of his way with a crazy laughter and supposedly having been to jail are a few juicy examples.

** In ''Inc'', [[spoiler:Mike's rant to Sully about how everything they ever worked for was ruined by being banished takes on new meaning when it's shown they literally worked their way from the ground up to get where they were]].

* StrangledByTheRedString: [[spoiler:Don and Squishy's Mom]], albeit played for laughs. While their pairing up is obvious due to similarities and proximity and they likely knew each other for a time, there is only one scene of amorous affection, and then they get engaged. Though this might have been a device to indicate that a significant, but ambiguous, amount of time passed [[spoiler:since Mike's and Sully's arrest]].

** Dean Hardscrabble is also very popular with the fans. Even many of the film's critics have praised her as one of the best parts of the movie, citing her imposing design and Helen Mirren's performance.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Some fans of the first movie elect to ignore ''University'' due to the sheer number of {{retcon}}s it makes to fit as a prequel.

** In this film, Mike is constantly being told that he is not scary and thus can't be an on-field worker for Monsters Inc despite it being his dream. The fact is driven home when he is seen only as a funny guy [[spoiler: by the kids he tries to scare when he sneaks into the human world.]] However if you remember at the end of the first film, [[spoiler: he gets to be an on-field worker precisely because he is funny. In other words, he was able to live his dream, though in a slightly different roundabout way, because of his "flaws"]].

* HoYay: The scene where Mike dreams about kissing a princess and wakes up kissing Sully's arm, anyone?

* StrangledByTheRedString: [[spoiler:Don and Squishy's Mom]], albeit played for laughs. While their pairing up is obvious due to similarities and proximity and they likely knew each other for a time, there is only one scene of amorous affection, and then they get engaged. Though this might have been a device to indicate that a significant, but ambiguous, amount of time passed [[spoiler: since Mike's and Sully's arrest]].
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Fans of the original movie don't like the number of {{retcon}}s ''University'' introduces by existing, in particular the insinuations that Mike and Sulley didn't meet until college (contradicting an offhand line that implied they were ChildhoodFriends), that [[spoiler:Mike and Sulley already knew the Abominable Snowman before they met him in the Himalayas]] and that Waternoose ''didn't'' teach Sulley everything he knew about scaring.

** Celia is nowhere to be found [[spoiler: (aside from a brief shot of a picture of her in Mike's locker near the end)]], which is especially conspicuous due to her strong resemblance to the girls of PNK.
** Terri and Terry. They had potential to be really interesting, but after their introduction, not much is done with them. Some people ''don't'' think that it's because they are "boring character(s) with little use". Granted, their lack of CharacterDevelopment left space for FanficFuel.

* VindicatedByHistory: Though still considered SoOkayItsAverage by some, overall opinions of the movie have improved quite a bit over the years, in no small part to its Aesops [[ValuesResonance becoming more important overtime]].

** The Oozma Kappa. They're nothing but genuinely nice, and endearingly {{Adorkable}} guys but they get the short end of the stick because of their cozy, fluffy "loser" behaviour. [[spoiler: They get treated better later.]]

* NeverLiveItDown:
** Due to being a prequel, ''Monsters University'' tends to get called out for causing plotholes towards the original film, even if the examples are relatively minor.
*** The biggest one is Mike's line, “You've been jealous of my good looks since the fourth grade, pal,” from the original film. Given that the prequel establishes that Mike and Sully met in college, the line doesn't make sense unless it's to be believed that Mike was just making a joke.
*** A more downplayed example is the epilogue when it's shown that Mike and Sully worked for the Abominable Snowman in Monsters Inc's mail room. By the time of the original film however, they come off like complete strangers when they supposedly meet again in the real world. That said, it's entirely possible that the Abominable Snowman only registered them as "two more interns" and was banished before they started moving up the ranks, while Mike and Sully had more important things on their minds than remembering someone they worked under years ago, possibly only briefly.

* MemeticMutation: The brief scene of Randall [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/60ddd5c095d8c7fe0738ff2452e7d30b/tumblr_misldt0KT81qj2fd2o1_1280.png holding the tray of cupcakes]] from the trailer is popular on Website/{{Tumblr}}.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Probably. The film establishes that other Scare companies other than Monsters Inc. exist [[spoiler: perhaps to indicate that Scarers who couldn't adjust to Monsters Inc.'s switch to Laugh energy didn't all suffer unemployment.]] Now granted, it's not as if Monsters Inc. said that [[spoiler: it was a ''complete'' switch to Laugh Energy.]]

** When the members of Python Nu Kappa went to invite the Oozma Kappas to the Roar Omega Roar party where they get humiliated, did they were asked by Johnny to pick up the Oozmas and were aware of the prank or just went on their own accord to invite them to the party and without knowing Johnny's intentions?

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Mike’s and Sulley’s Oozma Kappa brothers ''do'' become successful Scarers by using creativity and hard work to compensate for their “not scary” appearances. Mike, who is also considered "not scary", sticks to only one tactic and that hits its limits fast. That Mike never thinks to apply his teaching practices to himself is because he's DoomedByCanon, but ay valid lesson to take away is “if your current methods bring no desired results, think out of the box until something works to make your dream a reality”.

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Mike’s and Sulley’s Oozma Kappa brothers ''do'' become successful Scarers by using creativity and hard work to compensate for their “not scary” appearances. Mike, who is also considered "not scary", sticks to only one tactic and that hits its limits fast. Thus, while Mike has to eventually accept that he lacks the same aptitude as Sulley and Randall, an equally valid lesson to take away is “if your current methods bring no desired results, think out of the box until something works to make your dream a reality”.

* IncestYayShipping: People have been shipping Terry/Terri. If it tweaks the [[{{Squick}} squicky]] level down a little bit for some, Terri was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally going to be a girl.]]

** For some, Randall. [[spoiler:He may have been a jerk, but he was humiliated very publicly]].

* [[ContestedSequel Contested Prequel]]: Some fans see this as sub par to the original movie, though others do like this movie because it doesn't override the happy ending of the original.