Alonso Duralde of The Wrap gave the film a positive review, and wrote, "Falling squarely between the studio's classics and its decidedly lesser work, Monsters University is a solidly average Pixar effort, one that brings laughs to the kegger, but you'll be hard-pressed to remember it at the reunion in 10 years."^[55] Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic gave the film three and a half stars out of five and said it is "one of those movies that has absolutely no reason to exist, but once you've seen it, you're kind of glad it does."^[56] Alan Scherstuhl of The Village Voice gave the film a positive review, saying, "Monsters University feels not like the work of artists eager to express something but like that of likable pros whose existence depends on getting a rise out the kids. It's like the scares Sully and Mike spring on those sleeping tykes: technically impressive but a job un-anchored to anything more meaningful."^[57]
Lou Lumenick of the New York Post gave the film two stars out of four and said, "The under-5 set may find it funny, though I suspect their parents will be checking their watches a lot, as I did."^[58] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of five and wrote, "Both the originality and stirring emotional complexity of Monsters, Inc., with its exquisitely painful and touching parallels with the human world, are missing."^[59] Rafer Guzman of Newsday gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "Monsters University has an emotional quality that its whimsical predecessor lacked. It has a happy ending, of course, but this movie also feels—in its monstery way—very real."^[60] 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."^[61] 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."^[62]