The thing that really bothers me is the fact that the “Monsters” part is exactly the same as in Monsters, Inc.
Sure, it makes a lot of sense if you want to market the movie, but why would an university use the same logo as an energy company?
I’m not nuts for the logo, either. It’s not very pleasing to look at at all. I’m very disappointed that this is actually a prequel. My hopes for this movie just reduced 30%.
I agree with this. The fact they chose a relative unknown (well, to me, at least… if you knew him from ‘Mater and the Ghostlight’ good on ya) helps allay my suspicion that Pixar is being run by an oligarchy of an ‘Elite Few’ as opposed to a more even power distribution model.
Dreamworks, for all it inconsistent quality controls and ridiculous production schedules, at least gives everyone a ‘fair go’. The director of Kung Fu Panda 2, for instance, is Jennifer Yuh, a humble story artist on most of Dreamworks’ productions before she became Head of Story for the first KFP movie. I’m waiting for the day Pixar relinquishes control to Bob Peterson or Peter Sohn, but Scanlon is a step in the right direction.
And the logo is pretty disappointing, but hopefully it’ll look better on the posters when we see it.
Brad Lewis? Mark Andrews? Brenda Chapman to a certain extent? Dan Scanlon is, sort of, an unknown quantity, so the wisdom of this appointment remains to be seen. But I wouldn’t say it’s the first step towards the right direction though, because of all the names I just listed.
Say all we want about “more even power distribution model”, if it means a decline in quality of the movies, then NO NO NO, heck NO!! As excited I am about the next 3 (Cars 2, Brave, Monsters U), I’m looking forward much more to Pete Docter’s next release, or Lee Unkrich’s, or whichever Andrew Stanton or Brad Bird put out when they decide to go back to animation. My own opinions, of course!
Fairy nuff. As long as we get quality movies, I guess we can have a few people run the show. But what I’m advocating is that with a studio this well-known, and a talent pool this huge and excellent (with more hopefuls praying for a chance to get in), Pixar has the ‘cream of the crop’. I’m sure that their talent is not limited to only ten or so people, and that there is sure to be a hidden gem in their ranks somewhere that they haven’t used yet.
Dreamworks, Blue Sky, Animal Logic also have talent, but they get ‘second pickings’ because everyone else wants to go to Pixar. And yet they are confident enough to let different people have a chance.
Of course, Pixar is way better than Studio Ghibli, which is essentially an autocratic government. Albeit, a ‘benevolent dictator’ who has produced many great films that rivals Pixar’s.
Frankly, I have little reason to dislike Dan Scanlon directing over Peter Docter. Sure, Docter was a major factor, as he directed it, but the credits even say he wasn’t the sole writer.
Plus, some outer blood really does change my perception of Pixar from being an overly-inclusive animation company with NO tolerance for other ideas (the latter of which many have even acknowledged when it comes to fan mail, like my own to Peter Docter).
As for the logo, yeah, I felt the font for the word “University” was pretty unoriginal, myself. Still, we’ll have to admit it’s also overused by real-life colleges. 
about the logo, I like it, maybe they could have used colors, but it is fine for me
The logo is alright, but it needs a little bit more in it.
Oh, it will have colors, no doubt. This as most likely just a preliminary version.
Once that logo gets some color, I think I could very well like it. 
I think they should also do something like but it on a college pamphlet or those triangle flags.
Disappointment.
I’m a tad disappointed, but not surprised in the slightest. There was no chance that Pixar will release 2 features in a year, and then have nothing lined up for 2013. If they had something solid in the work in 2013, they would’ve announced it already, probably.
So the best we could hope for is Monsters U in 2013, Pete Docter’s feature for 2014, and Lee Unkrich’s for 2015. Anything more than this is a bonus, really.
Well, I myself admit that it’s a huge jump for Pixar to release more than one film a year, for a change. Where Monsters University is concerned, I’m not certain what to make of it. For one, if most of their time IS spent on current projects, then having a sequel/prequel seems a little rushed. And if it WAS rushed, it has a high chance of having a bad storyline, which will especially be a problem for a Randall fan like me, even despite an official tweet that mentioned him along Mike and Sulley.
The good news is now they don’t have to fight each other for the oscar.
Ok, there hasn’t been just a single information on this movie that has made me happy 
Seeing that Tweet which more or less confirms Randall will be in the prequel makes me even more apprehensive, actually. Now, if this were a SEQUEL, and it was confirmed that he was in it, I’d have a bit more hope, hope that Sulley, at least, will have a conscience and try to undo his wrong and patch things up. Being a prequel, though, probably means they will go with the “bully Randall tormenting poor Mike and Sulley having to defend him, or the two of them teaming up to defeat and humiliate Randall”. Which would suck in every possible way, from a Randall fan’s perspective. It would be worse than never hearing Pixar utter another word about him and leaving his fate up to our imaginations. Being that it is a prequel, that means that for Randall, things can only go downhill, since we already know what happened to him in the original movie, so unless the 2012’s release jumps from past to present, there is no chance that anything good can happen that will resolve what took place near the end of the original movie. Like I said earlier, just having him in the plot of the prequel for the sake of dragging him through the mud again would be the ultimate slap in the face from Pixar. I don’t know whether it even makes sense at this point to hold out any hope of anything different. I’ve had too many disappointments lately to believe anything positive will come of this prequel. I’d love for Pixar to prove me wrong, just this once, but the “Doubting Thomasina” in me just won’t let me believe until I see proof.
pitbulllady
While I agree with Pitbulllady on many things here…it’s not to say, at least as far as Ran fans are concerned, that the prequel is a lost cause.
One, it would be TOTALLY uncreative to make Randall all “bad guy” because then that shows no character depth, something Pixar seems to pride itself on.
And besides, at the beginning of the film, there is hardly any big-aggressive blood between the three. Randall is obviously tense that he got knocked out of Top Scarer, and he does play the locker joke on Wazowski, but it’s not like he takes a more fisticuffs role to it.
If they were leaving the University with negative opinions of each other, then it wouldn’t have been that…hmm…“clean” of an intro.
What Nexas said. PLUS, and you seem to be losing sight of this, pitbulllady, Randall was mentioned ALONG the protagonists, NOT mentioned alone within the whole tweet, probably about being pure evil or whatever the heck they could’ve said. I NEVER saw a Pixar “villain” (real and controversial alike) get mentioned in that fashion until I found out about this tweet.