Monsters at work is one of the most important television products of Pixar, which returns to the city of Mostropolis making us live a new adventure with Mike, Sulley and new characters. Here are our impressions on the first three episodes
The Monsters & co franchise begins in 2001 and continues with a prequel and some small animated projects. Although productively this is in effect the first major Pixar television series, with a certain budget and considerable ambitions, it was released unexpectedly. In fact, no one expected such an audiovisual product, especially in the television format. Yet here we are. The first film was placed in the buddy-movie sub-genre and introduced the couple made up of Mike and Sulley, two best friends monsters who work in the famous Monsters & co. The world of humans is divided by portals and it is forbidden to go there except for work. The latter consisted in frightening children and obtaining energy for the city of Mostropolis.
The story was complicated following an event that placed the protagonists in a difficult position. In fact, Mike and Sulley had to take care of a human child, hide her and bring her back to her room. Compared to the much simpler prequel, the first Monsters & co is a film about renewable energy and the importance of finding new sources of energy that are not harmful. Despite the internalized training cinema it contained, that first film was very political and lucid on a world problem that is increasingly urgent today. The 2013 prequel, Monster University, tells the birth of the couple Mike – Sulley and their academic journey in the school of scare. Much more forgettable and original than the first film, it broadened the mythology of Mostropolis effectively and introduced the importance of the group, of narrative chorality. Now we can start discussing the Disney Pixar television project.
The revolution of Mostropoli – Monsters at Work
The first three episodes have the clear objective of describing the consequences of the first film. All of this is not only observed by Mike and Sulley but by a new character: Tylor Tuskmon. Raised like many inhabitants of the city with the myth of the scarers, the heroes without whom any infrastructure would not work, he finds himself confused by the revolutionary events that take place in the finale of the first film. Tylor is a very good scarer and the series emphasizes that often. Yet that role no longer exists. Now if he wants to fulfill the commitment to serve citizens by providing energy through his actions, he must make children laugh. As these are impressions, we do not know if this social revolution within Mostropoli has an even more interesting development.
We could observe a sort of downsizing of the social stereotypes that monsters should embody: frightening, threatening, strong and all that goes with it. The overturning of Monsters & co will have an effect on the new generations who in theory will not be educated in the cult of fear and wickedness. All this strongly suggests the theme of toxic masculinity and gender stereotypes. It would be a real shame if you didn’t take advantage of this story segment.
The choral story – Monsters at Work
As we mentioned in the previous lines, Monsters University despite having Mike and Sulley as protagonists, also told the group of friends very well. In Monsters at Work the choice made is even more radical. Not only the protagonists of the two films are in the background but to be told is a character who never appeared, together with his working group. The television series calls itself a choral story, precisely by virtue of a longer playing time, at times, and of a distribution system different from the cinematographic one. Monsters at work is in fact distributed on Disney + on a weekly basis and therefore cannot currently be viewed entirely in one day. The twenty minutes allowed to the viewer make Monsters at Work almost a sit – com with various quotes and references to the first film of the saga.
From our impressions, the story has a clear ending and sees Tylor become more and more interested in the mechanical maintenance work and remain with the weird group of the Mift. If it turns out to be like this, unfortunately the conclusion would be very banal, drowning the judgment on the entire project which up to now has not shown much narrative ambition. The staging is certainly excellent while the context and the places that characterize it are repeated a lot. In fact, another objective that seems not to interest Monsters at work is to expand the mythology of the universe of Mostropolis and its surroundings.
Towards the season finale – Monsters at Work
As much as it is, in the first three episodes, a predictable and very unoriginal story, the audiovisual product in analysis has one characteristic to take into consideration: the absence of the villain. In the first film of the franchise the villain was clear to everyone and the plot twist was also very predictable. In Monsters University being described as a race, a team challenge, there was not a single villain. There is no villain in Monsters at Work. The ever-present dips in tension will somehow become more and more important in the season and will certainly provide new plot twists but you can’t guess who it is to cause them.
Perhaps Monsters At Work could surprise us precisely in this aspect, in the absence of a physical enemy but by the difficulty of revolutionizing a consolidated working system such as that of fear. Fighting for healthy energy is perhaps the real heart of the series that continues to insert small alerts for social unrest that will follow in the next episodes. What if laughter didn’t work anymore, if no monster could make children laugh anymore? It would return to the energy caused by the fright and to a revolt of nostalgic monsters.
Conclusions
The first three installments of the Disney Pixar project reveal many expectations that could become concrete if Monsters at Work intends to push beyond a predictable narrative. Carefree and very entertaining, we absolutely recommend taking a look at it precisely by virtue of a continuation that could turn into something very interesting.
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