Tear Jerker / Monsters University

This page contains unmarked spoilers. You Have Been Warned!

"I act scary, but most of the time I'm terrified."

The film may be a little more comedic than the average Pixar film, seeing how it's a prequel to an already hilarious Pixar film (Despite having moments of tragedy), but being a Pixar film, it still has plenty of emotional depth to back it up.

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• The constant teasing and belittling Mike goes through by being told he will never be scary or fit in with his peers. Kids, jocks, Sulley, and Hardscrabble tell Mike that he wasn't meant to become a scarer. It gets even worse when Mike has to find out the hard way that they were all right. It gets even worse when you consider that, arguably, they're not right. But it didn't matter in the end. All that mattered was the moment when Mike believed them.
• During the final exam, Sulley demonstrates a scare before Hardscrabble could finish. When Sulley remarks he doesn’t need to know all the “stuff” they’ve been learning to be a scarer, she then finishes by stating that, had he not interrupted her, he would’ve known that the hypothetical child would’ve cried rather than screamed, which could result in humans finding out about the monster world and that could put an end to life as they know it. While this wasn’t a tearjerker at first glance, you then remember in “Monsters, Inc.”, Sulley did a similar roar that made Boo cry and made him realize what he(and Monsters, Inc. in general) had been doing to millions of children all these years.
• After Mike and Sulley are expelled, they share a touching moment with each other and Hardscrabble before parting ways. The BGM playing when Mike was on the bus really tugged on heartstrings because he had just lost his lifelong dream.
• "You said you believed in me." The fact that Sulley lied when he said it hurt Mike a lot more than finding out about the cheating itself. Even Sulley's Wham Line shows that Hardscrabble was right, Mike doesn't have what it takes to be a real scarer.
  • You know what makes that moment worse? Mikey was doing an homage to the Scarer he saw when he was little, the one who inspired him to become a Scarer in the first place. When he performed the winning scare, thinking he was a full scarer and then knowing that Sulley rigged the testing device was salt in the wound. Even more, the rest of Oozma Kappa were equally ashamed and disappointed in Sulley when he ruined their victory by cheating and leaves behind the trophy.
    Mike: Did you do this?
    Sulley: Mike...
    Mike: Did. You. Do. This?!
    Sulley: I—Uh— (sighs) Yes, I did. But you don't understand!
    Mike: Why? Why did you do this?
    Sulley: You know, just in case...
    Mike: In case of what? (beat) You don't think I'm scary.
    Sulley: Mike...
    Mike: You said you believed in me... But you're just like Hardscrabble. You're just like everyone else!
    Sulley: Look, you'll get better and better—
    Mike: I'm as scary as you!! I'm as scary as ANYONE!!
    Sulley: I just wanted to help!
    Mike: No! You just wanted to help yourself!
    Sulley: Well, what was I supposed to do? Let the whole team fail because you don't have it?!
    (Mike looks shocked. His sadness quickly turns to fury as he shoves Sulley out of the way and leaves in anger. The others also leave in depression, with Squishy putting down the trophy and leaving it behind.)
• The way Mike does not respond at all when Sulley first finds him at the lake. The guy never stops talking, so for him to fall completely silent like that is a huge deal. He finally, in a quiet, almost emotionless tone, murmurs that Sulley was right. He couldn't do it.
  • Eventually, Mike snaps.
    Mike: Don't do that, please don't do that! You do NOT know how I feel!
    Sulley: Mike, calm down.
    Mike: Monsters like you have everything! You don't have to be good! You can mess up over and over again and the whole world loves you!"
    Sulley: Mike.
    Mike: You'll never know what it's like to fail, because you were BORN A SULLIVAN!
    Sulley: Yeah, I'm a Sullivan. I'm the Sullivan who flunked every test! The one who got kicked out of the program! The one who was so afraid to let everyone down that I cheated! And I lied!
  • And then there's how guilty and upset Sulley himself sounds when trying to get through to him, his arrogant façade now broken, and finally admitting to why he acted that way.
    Sulley: (somber) Mike, I'll never know how you feel...but you're not the only failure here. I act scary, but most of the time... I'm terrified.
    Mike: How come you never told me this before?
    Sulley: Because we weren't friends before.
• Don looking at his old business card sparks a definite sense of pain from those who dreamed of a career but had to settle for a job out of their field just to pay the bills.
• The fleeting look on Mike's face when he finds his prized hat damaged after escaping the human world. The audience knows that this represents Mike's loss of a lifetime dream.
• Hardscrabble confronting Sulley over whether or not he thinks Mike is scary. He tries dodging it a few times and argues how Mike's hard working and very intelligent, but the question is repeated twice before he sadly falls silent, because they both know the answer and he knows that she's not wrong. And to think this conversation was prompted because Sulley hoped there were no hard feelings after the canister incident.
• The picture of Sulley shaking hands with Waternoose can be considered this to those who remember how the friendship between them ends in Monsters, Inc..
• Randall betraying Mike to join ROR. Even worse is how Randall is totally unsympathetic to Mike's current plight.
  Randall: I'm finally with the cool kids, Mike. Don't blow this for me.
  • Randall's turn in general is a tearjerker, given how outgoing, friendly and respectful he was to Mike(compared to others like the ROR's and Sulley were at the start), offering up whichever bunk Mike wanted best as a good roommate, taking Mike's advice to not wear the glasses and use his camouflage, and making cupcakes to try to make friends at the first party. The fact that he turns on Mike and begins a rivalry with Sulley that lasts far into their adult lives at Monsters Inc. that ends with Randall getting trapped in the human world (presumably forever) is especially sad.
• The fact that Mike not only fails to achieve his dream of becoming a scarer: he fails to ever be recognized, celebrated, or even respected in his career, at least until the energy crisis and the debacle with Boo results in the discovery of the power of laughter. Though he takes it in stride, it's a harsh reminder of how working towards one goal and one goal alone you might not even be able to attain can backfire on you hard.
• After being humiliated at the party, Mike confronts Johnny for making him and his team look like fools, but of course Johnny, being the arrogant douche that he is, gives Oozma Kappa another kick in the face by saying that they'll never be real scarers compared to him and his team. Don, usually such a laid back voice of reason Cool Old Guy gives up and says that no matter what happens, him and the rest of Oozma Kappa will never be true scarers, which prompts him and the rest of OK to sadly walk away in defeat.