The movie was made for children, the first one made for adults
The first film features adult style corporate culture, corporate corruption with the ultimate message being reforms are needed to improve the lives of workers and promote efficiency by doing things more ethically. Despite being a cartoon I felt the first film was geared to adults more.
However this film, monsters university and incredibly childish. Everything about this movie is created for children. The ultimate takeaway is shallow with a predictable "I wanna be somebody" storyline. There is no profound meaning found in monsters university, it's a colorful children's cartoon movie and nothing more. What a let down.