Created by Pixar, Monsters at Work is set directly after the main events of Monsters Inc, where the city of Monstropolis is making the transition to be fuelled by the sound of laughter rather than scares. Tylor Tuskmon (Ben Feldman), a recent Scare Major graduate from Monsters University, is forced to work as a mechanic in the Facilities Team but dreams of being able to work alongside his idols, Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman).
With the great success of Star Wars and Marvel in TV format on Disney +, Pixar was up next, giving us a spin-off series of one of the most beloved films in their lineup. Monsters Inc was a wonderful and inventive classic that really holds up to this day and definitely remains one of my all-time favorite Pixar films. I was always curious what would happen if the film ever had a sequel and could possibly explore some unique ideas on an emotional level, similar to what Toy Story 3 and 4 did. Instead, we ended up getting a prequel, Monsters University, which wasn’t bad, but it didn’t really have the magic the first film had. It certainly expanded the world of monsters in interesting ways but I was far more interested in seeing a continuation after the events of the first film.
When I first heard about this series and heard it was continuing right after the events of the first film with lead characters returning, I was interested to see what they were going to do. However, when I watched the trailers and the first two episodes of the series it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. The best I could describe this series is that it is a kids’ version of “The Office” set in the world of Monsters Inc. And similar to Monsters University, it doesn’t have the magic of the original but it has charm and goofiness to entertain fans of all ages.
In a way, this series does actually remind me of all the Disney Channel shows based on various movies you’d watch during the week or weekends, which isn’t a bad thing at all since I grew up watching all of that. And while you can feel there wasn’t a top-tier Pixar effort brought into this series there was enough effort to make it enjoyable and even wholesome at times.
We have several new characters introduced in this series who are mainly the focus of the series rather than the old characters, but the old characters are in the series regularly and do have their own roles in the story. They are handled well and respectfully, especially Mike and Sully. Billy Crystal once again reprises Mike Wazowski and feels like he never left the role as he delivers most of the best humor of the series. Mike is very much the same as he was in the first film but now fully commits to being a funny monster, as well as teaching other monsters how to be funny in comedy classes that are shown as small skits at the end of every episode.
There is one episode where he ends up having a rivalry with another monster just like him named Gary, voiced by Gabriel Iglesias, which is honestly very clever. Crystal and Iglesias are both comedians known for stand up but both of them come from two different generations of comedy and I thought it was brilliant to have them both clash.
John Goodman does a great job as Sully once again but you can definitely hear his age reflected in his voice, making some line deliveries feel a bit off. And if you are wondering if Sully reflects on the events that occurred with Boo, he does, just not as often as you would think. There is one scene where he does think back to the time he accidentally scared Boo that I feel was both perfectly written and voiced. It really hit the heartstrings and for a moment it captured one of the core elements of what made Monsters Inc so beloved.
Other returning characters come around in this series and are all voiced well by their respective returning cast members. Even Abominable (John Ratzenberger) makes a return where we actually get to learn what really caused his banishment, and the reason is actually a really good one. I felt that Monsters University may have ruined it with a throwaway joke at first but this series manages to save it while also delivering a very wholesome Abominable focused episode in the process.
We then have the new characters that are part of MIFT (Monsters Incorporated Facilities Team) that serve as the main mechanics and engineers of the company and the group that our lead character Tylor Tuskmon is forced to join. The group consists of Fritz (Henry Winkler), Duncan P. Anderson (Lucas Neff), Cutter (Alanna Ubach), and Val Little (Mindy Kaling) who are all funnily enough weirdos in their own way.
Fritz is a passionate yet overly sensitive leader of the team who cares about everyone involved in MIFT and always makes everyone feel welcome, even if he is not the brightest of the bunch.
Duncan is a self-absorbed asshole who threatens Tylor on day one, saying that Duncan will be the one to take Fritz’s position one day and be in charge of everyone. For me, he was easily the most unlikeable character in the entire series, just a complete douche bag the entire time, kind of representing that one guy in an office job that’s so full of himself.
Cutter is a crab-like monster and an obsessive rule-follower due to several accidents that happened to previous MIFT employees. The fact that she’s able to recall how certain deaths happen at certain times is legitimately funny and is placed at the best times.
Val Little is a quirky and energetic character who insists that she is Tylor’s best friend, although they only had one class together at Monsters University. At first, I thought this character was going to be annoying but she ended up really growing on me in this series, especially when you understand why she is the way she is towards others, especially Tylor. Also, Mindy Kaling really did a great job in this role.
Tylor you would consider as the straight man of the group who seems relatively normal compared to the other misfits, but I like the fact that he is also a misfit in his own way, one who learns valuable lessons in his time with MIFT while trying to become a jokester. I feel like he’s the character most people will find themselves attached to, especially given all the chaos he has to go through. He sometimes can be selfish but he learns not to be and evolves over the series, unlike Duncan who remains as a dick the whole time.
It’s obvious this series and its story were very much aimed towards younger viewers, but there are definitley some things for older audiences to enjoy too. There are some jokes kids won’t get but adults definitely would, and they can be funny though not laugh out loud funny, which leads to one of my issues with the series.
The comedy can be very hit or miss throughout, with some humor being really good and other humor that just never really clicks with me personally, but I could definitely see kids being entertained by it. You can tell the humor is more aimed at kids, and while Pixar has done a lot better in that department for their movies, the comedy here is never painfully bad like other kids’ films or shows. And as for the story, as I mentioned it’s similar to “The Office” where every episode is about various tasks or events occurring within Monsters Inc that the MIFT team and CEOs Mike and Sully deal with.
We do get some interesting expansions of the Monster world in this series, as well as more of the inner workings of the company that I found interesting as well as inventive. And if you are wondering if there are perhaps any of Pixar’s life lessons involved in this series, there are some but they aren’t as impactful compared to the films, and they can sometimes come off as repetitive. But that doesn’t mean that this series doesn’t have its own moments of wholesomeness and emotion sprinkled throughout, I just wish there was more of it.
I will say that the series definitely was saved for me as a whole thanks to its finale that not only sets up an interesting idea for a season 2 to follow but also does bring things to a great close for Tylor’s story. I was expecting it to go in a certain predictable direction but then it ended up going very differently than what I expected and I was satisfied.
The animation for the series is a bit of an interesting aspect of its own. It’s not top-tier animation like you’d expect from Pixar and it’s sometimes not always that smooth in its movements in the first few episodes but I don’t think it’s terrible either. The animation is visually good, giving off brilliant colors and very much matching the world of Monsters we are so familiar with. Even most of the new monster designs and environments were really great, showing that there is definitely some creativity going into this series despite its restrictions.
And speaking of creativity I do really like the music for this series. This includes the reprisal of the original Monsters Inc theme that is not only used for the intro but is also used in the credits, being done in different styles and instruments that match with the themes of each episode.
Overall, I think Monsters at Work is a decent series that is by no means perfect and is far from being on any level of Pixar’s best, but it wasn’t terrible either. I definitely recommend giving it a look because you may find the series entertaining, and if you happen to have any kids or younger siblings this series would definitely be up their alley if they love Monsters Inc. I’m going to give Monsters at Work a B.
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