Monsters At Work: What the Must Watch reviewers think
Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.
This week Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell share their thoughts on Monsters At Work on Disney +.
John Goodman and Billy Crystal reprise their roles as Mike and Sully from the Monsters, Inc. films in this TV spin off. Ben Feldman (Superstore and Mad Men) voices a new recruit to Monsters, Incorporated who discovers scaring is out and laughter is in.
Disney
Hayley says: "Has jokes for the adults and the kids"
"I will always be pro more Pixar. It’s not quite at the level of the movie, but I love Pixar.
"I love the loose social commentary running throughout the whole thing. Their whole industry has pivoted, and they're standing on this earthquake ground where these scary monsters suddenly have to figure out how to be funny to keep their jobs. It’s this kind of grown-up adult anxiety dream mixed in with all these candy coloured children’s jokes. Plus you get old hacky comedian schtick that's done very knowingly. It’s funny, and it’s continuing that thing of having jokes for the adults and the kids. There’s even a reference to Donald Sutherland in Body Snatchers.
"I love that Billy Crystal and John Goodman are back. Also, I think a lot of work has gone into this. The production team visited two actual real life power plants to interview the workers about their day, which I love. So you get these other, minor characters who help the whole operation work but literally never see daylight because they’re underground and ignored. It’s not as good as the movies but I think they are exploring different things."
Disney
Scott says: "I don’t think we need it!"
"It’s not for me, I don’t think we need it! The films are great. This show could have been really lazy, but you’ve got Billy Crystal and John Goodman’s characters popping up throughout, rather than making quick cameos.
"As someone who loves the films, I wonder … do we need more of it? The films are so well self-contained. This feels like an excess of something we don’t really need. Having said that, if you have a young kid who loves Monsters Inc then this is a good way to spend 20 minutes. For me, there’s not enough to keep me glued."
Disney
Monsters At Work is available now on Disney +.
Must Watch is released as a podcast every Monday evening from BBC Sounds and all other good podcast providers.
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