Monsters at Work

What the show conspicuously lacks, versus the original, is a clear villain and the dollop of heart provide by the relationship between Sully and the human kid Boo. Instead, after setting up the premise the second episode mostly careens amiably from one perfunctory crisis to the next. Still, "Monsters at Work" takes a well-established title and parlays that into a good deal of fun.

Mike and Sulley don’t need to be part of Monsters at Work, but they’re fine, and the show around them is a promising enough start for this new phase of the brand’s existence. Like Tyler, Disney may at some point need to learn a new skill. Right now, though, low-stakes competence is enough.

If you love original movies and were expecting a third, “Monsters at Work” might be a bit disappointing. But if you can still appreciate the world-building (and Crystal’s unflagging energy), then the Disney+ series might still hit its laugh quotas.

It’s cute. But “Monsters at Work” might need a little more retooling on the scripts. They’re a laugh-a-10 minutes.

With their 25-minute running time, the “Monsters at Work” episodes can feel a little rushed and busy for adult attention spans, as if they’re in a hurry to squeeze as much mayhem and hilarity into each chapter as possible. But the show doesn’t stoop to cynicism, and the action, even when it’s slathered on thick, has the wit and bounce of silent comedy for tots.

“Monsters at Work” has moments—usually thanks to great actors truly elevating mediocre material with their voice work—but kids will want to be going to back to the original films before ever watching these again.

It looks pretty good - the furry monsters are well-rendered - and it’s warm-hearted (one of the characters is voiced by a twinkly Henry Winkler). But it is lacklustre. Bafflingly, it’s a workplace comedy. Note to Disney: children don’t go to work. They don’t care about office politics, or know what a facilities team is, and they’re not going to relate to lines such as “the metrics of your performance will be monitored by our humour gauge”.