When we last heard about the upcoming DreamWorks Animation film BOO U. it was about a year ago and at the time it sounded an awful lot like a rip-off of MONSTERS INC. A year later and, unfortunately, that’s still what it sounds like, even with the addition of Seth Rogen, who will voice the lead ghost in the film. The film follows a parallel universe where ghosts live and are trained by an organization to scare kids. So like MONSTERS INC. but with ghosts, right?
If it sounds like I’m being hard on the film, I’m not trying to. I’m actually trying to give the film the benefit of the doubt. There are times when projects sound very similar on paper but wind up being exceptionally different once the final products are released. But in the past Pixar and DreamWorks have released projects like A BUG’S LIFE & ANTZ and FINDING NEMO & A SHARK’S TALE. They weren’t necessarily the same but similar enough to split audiences (in favor of Pixar).
I hope in the development process they’ll take BOO U. further away from any territory mined in MONSTERS and the film has at least two years until release so there’s definitely some time. As for Rogen, this is another in a long line of animated voices. Previously he’s lent his pipes to HORTON HEARS A WHO, THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, KUNG FU PANDA (and it’s upcoming sequel) and MONSTERS VS. ALIENS.
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed