This is an unusual year with Disney finding three major contenders in its rank, each distributed and flogged by a different brand (Pixar here, Touchstone for The Wind Rises and Disney parent for Frozen).

Monsters University

Stars: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Peter Sohn, Joel Murray, Sean P. Hayes, Dave Foley, Charlie Day, Alfred Molina, Tyler Labine, Nathan Fillion
Director: Dan Scanlon
Premise: From IMDb: “A look at the relationship between Mike and Sulley during their days at Monsters University — when they weren’t necessarily the best of friends.”
Oscar Chances: Strong: It will surely be a nominee, but a win seems unlikely considering there are two more significant figures in the race this year, also owned by Disney.
Campaign-Proposed Categories:

• Best Animated Feature (Dan Scanlon, Kori Rae)
• Best Director (Dan Scanlon)
• Best Adapted Screenplay (Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, Dan Scanlon)
• Best Film Editing (Greg Snyder)
• Best Production Design (Ricky Nierva)
• Best Cinematography (Matt Aspbury, Jean-Claude Kalache)
• Best Visual Effects (Sahjay Bakshi, Guido Quaroni, Jon Reisch)
• Best Sound Mixing (Michael Semanick, Gary Summers, Doc Kane)
• Best Sound Editing (Tom Myers, Michael Silvers)
• Best Original Score (Randy Newman)

Rotten Tomatoes:
78% (6.8 average rating) (175 critics; as of 11/26/13)
Metacritic:
65 out of 100 (41 critics; as of 11/26/13)