7. It's A Prequel
With Toy Storys 2 and 3, Pixar showed they were perfectly capable of doing a worthy follow ups to their films. However, Cars 2 put question to this, being a poor mess of a movie (although it coming from an already inferior product may not have helped matters). Either way, its nice to see that out of the list of Pixars upcoming features, none are sequels; their original ideas tend so complete and self contained (even in fan favourite sequel baiter The Incredibles) that continuing the story can be dangerous. A prequel is an entirely different beast. It allows for a different approach, showing us how the characters or setting got to the state they are at the start of the first movie. Knowing where were going to end up is something that Pixar can surely play with, allowing them to tinker the conventions of animated movies. Most children/family films tend to start off with a flawed character who through a big journey, learns what is really important in life (if they dont, odds are the film wont amount to much). This is most certainly both Mike and Sullys development in the first Monsters; they go from devoted work drones to free thinking pioneers. Itll be refreshing change to see the characters not entirely perfect come the end.