20th birthday treat: Welcome back to Monsters Inc

Just a few months shy of Monsters Inc’s 20th anniversary, Pixar has dived back into the city of Monstropolis to bring audiences a television sequel to the hit 2001 film.

The new series, Monsters at Work, picks up after the original film, as lovable and quirky protagonists Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James P “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman) tackle their new roles running Monsters Incorporated.

After discovering children’s laughter is a better power source than children’s screams, Mike and Sulley are ready to usher in a new era for Monsters Inc, with a group of new employees to help with the power source transition.

Name a better duo: Mike and Sulley are back with new roles and new laughs in Disney+ series Monsters at Work. Picture: Pixar

Although an odd and unlikely pair visually, the two monsters—and their voice-over counterparts—have great chemistry.

Audiences were first introduced to the dynamic duo in Monsters Inc, when the two worked together to return “Boo” back home after the two-year-old accidentally found her way into the monster world.

In 2013, Pixar released the prequel film Monsters University, the story of how Mike and Sulley first met.

Monsters University showcased the significant events and groundwork that transformed a young-adult rivalry into the life-long friendship seen in Monsters Inc.

However, Mike and Sulley spend a substantial amount of runtime trying to best or humiliate each other, and at times it feels like audiences are meeting these characters for the first time.

A young Mike Wazowski in Monsters University. Picture: Pixar.

While it was a fun addition to the Monsters Inc series, it introduced audiences to much younger versions of Mike and Sulley, who hadn’t yet grown into the versions of themselves fans had come to know.

The two films presented these characters with various challenges, and now that audiences better understand their history, it’s time to see what the duo will overcome next in Monsters at Work.

Watching Mike and Sulley adjust to their new role and responsibilities while interacting with a brand-new group of characters should make for fun viewing. Maybe Pixar will even surprise fans with another trip back to the human world.

Both Monsters Inc and Monsters University are streaming now on Disney+. The 10-episode first season of Monsters at Work begins on July 7, with new episodes weekly.