Firstly it plays like a proper sequel, picking up right where the first film left off. It's just not totally Mike-and-Sulley-centric, which honestly is fine. And it actually looks darned good for being done by Disney TV animation. Thank Bob the look of the Pixar movies is retained, rather than employing some other style. And the voice actors! Unlike the series that used to be made as movie follow-ups and were mostly just for fun, this is being treated seriously, aiming for legit canon. The first pair of episodes genuinely made me laugh, like, a lot. Real whole lot. So the comedy's up to snuff.
Since Happy Days Winkler's probably had to fight "coolest dude around" typecasting, and Fritz is basically the antithesis of The Fonz, so. xD Like the colors on Val and some of the others. Her design is reminiscent of Art's, and she's one of those monsters who looks like she belongs at McDonald's. Cutter's great. MIFT team's neat, hilarious. Hooray for more Ms. Flint, finally! And getting to fully appreciate her cool sluggy-snakiness (with a touch of "mermaid" and "dress/maxi skirt" as well), as she sets about retraining everymonster as a comedian.
I've been wanting a sequel...and at some point I need to see my Randy-baby again! :'-x I just know he escaped those hillbillies and made it home.
Fungus is back. I mean, so far the continuity and inclusion of MI+MU characters whilst introducing new ones seems to off to a pretty auspicious start.
Easter egg: The poor traumatized kid has Pooh.
Tylor's mom looks nothing like him and also has my fuzzy dice. Monster genetics must be interesting. He's a lot more physically similar to Sulley. And Pixar gangs sure do like their initiation rituals.
Second episode>first.
Noticed on second viewing: Val is basically a Lisa Frank fanatic comme moi.
What's actually got me most intrigued at the moment is the almost immediate appearance of a (so far) minor character I'd been hoping to see *at some point*...okay, my main hopes for the series were to see lots and lots of MU+MI characters and as much as possible of the monster world. From the first several episodes I convinced myself to expect no more than a good setup. After all, I've lied when I've said that Pixar never disappoints. I mean, they have. And a lot of their more recent films have continued the trend of getting me less hyped/obsessed (or not at all obsessed), which really began during the latter half of the 2000s. Can't keep up the Finding Nemos and Incredibles and Cars levels forever. My other faves would include the toys and bugs and Brave--which I'll admit is among the weakest storywise. The awesome characters, setting, and everything else make that forgivable.
Pixar's worst crime to date has been scrapping the Tank Gang storyline in Finding Dory in favor of an incredibly ill-thought-out, nonsensical post-credit gag, which was just unbefitting. They deserved so much better. And no way did they travel across the Pacific in those algae-choked bags. For one thing they've got Bubbles' scalpel, Jacques' claws, Bloat's quills, Nigel's beak--come on, they did NOT really even need to wonder how they were gonna get out of the baggies. Like fo' real, guys. Gimme a break. Get with the program. Anyhoo. While a story about their traveling adventures WOULD be amazing, um, why wouldn't they just head for Nemo's part of the reef? I always envisioned a sequel set there, with them. And lately we've had the itty-bitty Dory short-short (in Pixar Popcorn) and the reef-cam which...aiight, cute for what they were and I guess better than nothing during the worst of the pandemic. However, the missed opportunities for #TankGangOntheReef, REAL SPECIES even for backgrounders, etc., re-taught me the "don't get your hopes too high" lesson.
So 'twas pleasantly surprising that I was able to start playing "I Spy With My Monstrous Eye" straight away. Right off the bat, boom, there's Carla "Killer Claws!" She was one I noted in MU and said, "Well she's obviously badass, wish there were a figure of her." At last we get to hear her speak and...um, oh my oh dear, I'm afraid there's no way that's her voice. *-* This obviously cool, confident, elegant she-monster speaks like...that? Oy. Well. Uh. We'll see what happens, but if necessary I can easily just headcanonize (which is my case simply means canonize) an identical twin for her without the vocal issue. xD; Also of note: One of my HSS gals, Rosie. Now had it been Susan, I'd know for sure they were stalking me and/or reading my mind. Which naturally they oughta do, but with proper credit and compensation. And hiring. Literally every company in the world needs me as CIP (Chief Idea Person) if it wants to truly thrive and earn not just customer satisfaction, but customer ecstasy.
Bring on all the sorority/fraternity members and whatnot!! Wanna reunite with Hardscrabble, PNK girls, Susan & Nadya & Sonia & Nancy & Rhonda [makes sense that Abby Hardscrabble would've been a HSS, as revealed in the Essential Guide], the Siamese Perry twins, the boys of JOX, Donna & the girls of EEK [interestingly there's another Carla and a Violet in there & plus Rhonda's one of Flo's Motorama girlfriends--along with Laverne and Sheila], and Javier & the rest of ROR (Worthington being the Bradley Uppercrust III of MU. They're the Gamma Moo-Moos. But who'd wanna join a herd of cows?)
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...oh noes...I've been adding comments below but Mike's clown class just forced me to rewatch this...
