Monsters University (2013, dir. Dan Scanlon) ***/****

   Pixar's "Monsters University" is a prequel to "Monsters Inc."   Its main protagonists, as in the first film, are two monsters named Mike (voiced by Billy Crystal) and Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman).  It tells the story of how the characters in the first film were educated and came of age.  It is entertaining but it is not the most original, edgy or surprising animated film that there is.
  The film is very knowledgeable about campus life and offers a funny look into the struggles and obstacles that freshman face as they venture into the new, often bewildering territory of post-secondary education.  Mike wants to major in Scaring but he finds that his dreams are often barricaded by his own, unscary nature and nonthreatening disposition.  Sullivan comes from a family of scary monsters and is one of those lazy, laid-back students who seems to take their talents for granted and thinks that he can coast through university on cruise-control.   When the two characters find that their dreams of majoring in Scaring are threatened, they resort to a competition put on by the campus called The Scare Games.  In it, there is a series of events which as an assembled fraternity team, they must win enough events to be crowned the scariest monsters on campus.  Surely, such a victory would impress the hard-nosed Dean and secure their spot in their major of their choice.
   The animation, as always from Pixar, is superb and fun to watch.  The characters are empathetically drawn and possess all the emotional expressiveness of real-life humans.  There are funny moments - kids and adults will both get a kick out of the film.
   The film really starts to take off when the monsters venture into the real-world environment of humans and must use their expertise and teamwork to scare the humans in any way they can.  The scenes of the Scare Games are interesting too and the individual events are exciting and interesting.
   Overall, this is a good film for kids that their parents can enjoy too.  Its only drawback is that it is not all that edgy and inventive.  There are better animated features out there but "Monsters University" holds up and is entertaining enough for me to recommend.