There's been an attitude recently that Pixar has been "losing it" that I frankly don't agree with. The studio might be "losing it" in that they haven't produced a masterful film since Toy Story 3, which was only 3 years ago, but their films have never really gone less than competent. Cars 2 erroneously got panned for being too childish, something they were intentionally going for, and Brave pulled out of a terrible production hell history to be an ultimately decent attempt at a standard Disney princess story. Now we have Monster's University, the prequel to 2001's Monster's Inc., and while it's not one of their more masterful films, it is still a sign that even when Pixar is being…

Monsters, Inc. is my favourite Pixar film which is both a blessing and a curse when approaching this prequel. On the one hand it is great to spend time with the characters again but on the other it is always going to come off as second best compared to the charming original. Unsurprisingly, it is in the interactions between Mike and Sully where Pixar’s latest finds the majority of its laughs and hidden heart, the only problem is that it is marred by such a formulaic and pedestrian plot.

Monsters University explores how everybody’s favourite monsters became friends during their eventful time at university. The film follows the well-worn path of rivals becoming best buddies as Mike and Sully must…

Monsters Inc. was a film that took me a long time to like. I wasn't really looking forward to its sequel, nor was I opposed to watching it. I felt indifferent and that is more or less how I feel now.

Monsters University feels like a film that only works because of the huge amount of talent involved. It probably shouldn't exist, comes across as a money grab and reeks of an easy opportunity to churn out tonnes of merchandise. Yet it still manages to be better than most recent animated movies that have come out.

The Pixar name seems to be a bit of a double edged sword. Whenever that logo appears, expectations become stellar and have people looking…

From the creators of animation classics like Toy Story trilogy, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL·E & Up, Pixar Animation Studios' 14th feature film marks their first foray into prequels & although it's an enjoyable, entertaining & quite satisfying ride for the most part, it ultimately falls short of the quality of cinema we expect from Pixar.

A prequel to Monsters Inc., Monsters University focuses on the relationship between Mike & Sulley during their college life, where they started off as rivals studying to be scarers. After the two are dropped from their courses for causing a fight, Mike takes part in Scary Games competition to prove his worth & reluctantly includes Sulley when his team falls short of one member.

Directed by…

You're not even in the same league with me.
-Sulley

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed that for the last few years every time Pixar announced a new film on their calendar it ended up being either a sequel, prequel or spin-off of previous works. I know many do, but I don't consider Monsters, Inc. among Pixar's top echelon of films so the tale of When Mike Met Sulley seemed a bit unnecessary to me.

With that said I was pleasantly surprised by a solid, if not original, film. With the disappointment of Brave still fresh in my memory it was nice to find out that the Pixar Charm still existed even if just in…