Buy Monsters University movie

A decent enough prequel earns a fantastic Blu-ray release...

It wasn't so long ago that Pixar rejected the idea of churning out sequels to its greatest hits. Toy Story was the exception rather than the rule, having been succeeded by two critically hailed sequels - the first in 1999, the second in 2010 - each one arguably better than the last. But then, in 2011, came John Lasseter's middle of the road Cars sequel, Cars 2, followed by Monsters Inc. prequel Monsters University earlier this year. And that's not all, kids. Finding Dory, the long-rumored, soon-to-be-realized sequel to Finding Nemo, is also currently in production, with talk of other hot property Pixar sequels and prequels making the rounds among Mouse House power players. In other words, Pixar is officially in the animated sequel business. The question being: is it a business worth the once-revered animation studio's time? If Cars 2 is any indication, no. And Monsters University? It's better than McQueen and Mater's sophomore outing, but not by much. Whereas Pete Docter's original buddy-beast scare-fest was a fresh, inventive, hilarious blue collar adventure in the world of working stiff monsters, director Dan Scanlon's college-locked prequel is small in stature, timid and a bit too direct-to-video considering its legacy. It isn't a mediocre romp by any means, but don't be surprised if you grin sporadically and laugh lightly throughout, only to shrug your shoulders at the end of the film and mutter "s'alright."

First day of school...

Scanlon's prequel bypasses a quip from Monsters Inc. that originally placed the foundation of James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski's (Billy Crystal) friendship in the fourth grade, pushing back the future Scare partners' first encounter to college, when the two meet on the Monsters University campus for the first time. Far from a functional relationship, the two freshman initially become rivals; Sulley, a popular jock courted by Roar Omega and its smarmy president Johnny J. Worthington III (Nathan Fillion), and Mike, a pint-sized upstart with big dreams no one believes will ever amount to the professional scarer he longs to become. But when Sulley's pride gets the best of him and he's booted from Roar Omega Roar, he's forced to join the laughing stock of the annual Scare Games: Oozma Kappa, an oft-ridiculed frat that just so happens to count Mike among its members. If the bickering duo can figure out a way to combine Mike's brain with Sulley's brawn, Oozma Kappa has a shot at winning the competition. If they can't, though, no-nonsense dean Abigail Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) might just kick them out of the Scare program for good.