Monsters University (2013)

As a first grader, Mike Wazowski begins to dream of becoming a Scarer – a monster who enters the human world at night to scare children and harvest their screams for energy to power the city of Monstropolis. Eleven years later, Mike enrolls in the Scaring program at Monsters University (MU) and meets classmate James P. “Sulley” Sullivan. Abigail Hardscrabble, dean of MU, warns the students that anyone who does not pass a final exam at the end of the first semester will have to leave the Scaring program. As the semester progresses, an intense rivalry forms between Mike, who studies hard to improve himself, and Sulley, who relies only on his natural talent and begins to falter. They both attempt to join a fraternity, but only Sulley is accepted into Roar Omega Roar (ROR), the most prestigious house on campus. Hardscrabble tests them separately and fails them both — Mike for not being scary, Sulley for choosing the wrong approach to scare a child without having all the relevant information about them. They are forced to transfer to a different study program, much to their dismay.

Wanting to prove himself, Mike learns of MU’s “Scare Games” competition and makes a deal with Hardscrabble. If his team wins, all of the members will be admitted to the Scaring program, otherwise, he will leave MU. Mike joins Oozma Kappa (OK), a fraternity of misfits, but they are one member short of being able to enter the competition. Sulley offers to join OK, seeing it as his only chance to return to Scaring, and Mike reluctantly accepts. OK finishes last in the first round but are saved from elimination after another team is disqualified for cheating. During each of the next three rounds, OK steadily improves due to Mike’s knowledge of scaring and the others’ unique talents.