There are some who feel that Pixar may have lost their touch as of late. Cars 2 was their first critical flop, although it did still take in $550 million worldwide in 2011. Last year's Brave made more headlines for the "controversy" surrounding it than the movie itself, but, yes, that took in around $550 million worldwide too. The animation studio goes back to a familiar inkwell yet again with this summer's Monsters University, a prequel to their 2001 hit Monsters Inc., that shows how Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) first meet. While this does open up the entire monster universe quite nicely, and provides a decent dose of entertainment, the storytelling isn't nearly as cohesive as it should be.

This is one of those movies that I was left wondering why this particular story needed to be told, except perhaps to fill a release slate hole. Truth be told, I thoroughly loved Monster's Inc., after watching it on a whim during its theatrical run. The highly-original conceit of a world that is literally fueled by the screams of young children truly fascinated me, as did Mike and Sulley's interactions with the "toxic" Boo. Since I really wanted to see more of that dynamic play out, as they learn these children aren't so dangerous after all, part of me was somewhat disappointed when Pixar announced plans for a prequel, taking us back to Mike and Sulley's college days, because, well, honestly, does anyone really care about Mike and Sulley's college days?

The best prequels answer some sort of burning origin question, or illuminate why certain things really happened in the original movie. For me, I was dying to know how this world in the future would be affected by Boo's presence, not how these old chums became that way in the first place. I didn't leave Monster's Inc. going, 'Gee, I wonder how they became friends?' and I doubt many did, because their relationship is set up just fine in the original. The burning question I want answered the most remains in the future of this world, not in the past, and it seems so unnecessary to bring us back to the past, when there is so much more to address in the future.

With all that being said, Monsters University is not a bad movie. One of the things it does quite nicely is opens up this monstrous world. The Monsters Inc. company is an incredibly important part of their universe's well-being, but we see there is much more than just "scarers" through the diversity of this academic setting. We also get a very rich backstory into both Mike and Sulley's past, with Mike perceived as an outsider from the get-go due to his size, and Sulley with big shoes to fill in college, since it is mentioned that his father is a legendary scarer.

These character aspects, and how this odd couple comes together, are rather compelling to watch once you get into the story, with a slew of (literally) colorful characters thrown in the mix as well. Although it will take too long to explain, basically, Mike and Sulley get into some hot water with the uber-tough Dean Hardscrabble (voice to perfection by Helen Mirren). To secure their place in the Scaring Program, they must band together with the misfit fraternity Oozma Kappa to win the annual Scare Games and prove their worth to the Dean, and the big beasts on campus that are Roar Omega Roar, lead by Johnny Worthington (also voiced perfectly by Nathan Fillion).

The rest of the voice cast is peppered with talent, with Joel Murray as the non-traditional Oozma Kappa brother Don, Sean Hayes and Dave Foley as the two-headed OK brother Terri/Terry, Charlie Day as my favorite new character and OK member Art, Julia Sweeney as Ms. Squibbles, the mother of OK's Squishy (Peter Sohn), Aubrey Plaza as MU Greek Council president Claire Wheeler, Tyler Labine as vice-president Brock Pearson, and tons more. Like every Pixar movie, each voice matches the character perfectly, and there are even a few more voices you'll recognize from Monster's Inc., such as Steve Buscemi's Randy Boggs.

The Scare Games themselves are essentially an homage to Revenge of the Nerds, and we even take a look at how these monsters party (I particularly liked their amusing hybrid of beer pong and tic-tac-toe). It is actually quite brilliant how they were able to maintain the authentic feel of a college party, while obviously making it more age-appropriate and still throwing plenty of material for the adults to laugh at. The movie truly shines when illuminating themes of friendship, belief in one's self, and that all-important ability to surprise people at just the right time. There is a scene near the end that truly cements Mike and Sully's friendship, that is nearly worth the price of admission alone, despite the film's other shortcomings. Speaking of which...

Director Dan Scanlon co-wrote the script with Daniel Gerson and Robert L. Baird, who both contributed to the original Monsters Inc. script. I was impressed at how they could cram so many characters into a 110-minute story, but, on the flip-side, it's kind of mind-boggling how they apparently struggled to come up with a coherent ending. Without giving anything away, and this goes for other parts of the story as well, it felt like the writers kept trying to surprise us, merely for the sake of surprising us. The very end of the story went through so many unnecessary steps, only to arrive at the same place we expected anyway. It's like scaling a huge fence to break into a house, when the front door is unlocked the whole time. There's just no need for it.

Monsters University is a solid, if not unnecessary, prequel that provides plenty of entertainment, albeit at the expense of a consistent story.