TL;DR – Whether you like this film or not will depend on whether you think the Minions are charming or the death rattle of the end of Western Civilisation.

Post-Credit Scene – There are several mid-credit scenes.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Minions & Monsters Review Introduction

Over the years, I have been a strong proponent of how much I do enjoy the Despicable Me universe, even if Despicable Me 4 did start to show its age. Part of that is the chaotic energy that is infectious, the bright colours, and a heavy helping of quality slapstick comedy. It doesn’t hurt that I don’t have kids, so I only have to watch them once. But can a spin-off of a spin-off have the power to work? This is what we will look at today.

So, to set the scene, we open as a new museum is opening in Hollywood, looking back at some of the greats of cinema history, for example George Lucas (George Lucas). But the tour group was perplexed to see a statue of two Minions sitting in the exhibition. Well, the tour guide (Allison Janney) said, it is time to get an education about the history of Hollywood. The Minions have one goal: to find a big bad to work for, but one of the Minions, James (Pierre Coffin), had more of a creative side. When they end up in Hollywood, James finds his moment working with Max (Christoph Waltz), a noted film director. But to make James’ magnum opus, they needed a monster, and well, the Minions might have the evil spell book to pull that off.

What Worked

I do have to give credit to a film that is about 70% just Minions talking to each other, and yet it still holds together. It might be that this is the first time I think I have mostly understood what they were saying to each other, and I don’t know if that is just because I have become so used to it, my brain has started to auto-translate, or if the vocalisations are different this time around. It also helps this time around that our lead Minions are quite charismatic, and you do want to see them succeed. Well, all but one of them, and that Minion knows who they are.

The visuals are a treat, with some real weirdness towards the end of the film, which I won’t spoil here, but if eyes are not your thing, beware. Most of the slapstick comedy lands, which was nice, because the film works best when there is that Three Stooges energy to things. I also liked that there was a real love for old Hollywood in this film. It first looks like a gimmick, but as the film goes on, you can feel the love.

What Didn’t Work

Putting aside for the moment that this is another different origin story for the Minions, because I don’t think canon really matters in this case. However, you do start to feel just how loosey-goosey the narrative is at times. They do try to wallpaper over that with a Matryoshka doll-level meta-analysis that mostly works. However, there is a real lack of substance in places. For example, I didn’t really care for any of the monsters from a character perspective.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Minions & Monsters? Look, if you have kids, then I think you will be stuck seeing this at some point, and it’s not that bad. In fact, it was quite enjoyable for most of the runtime. Also, there were times when it was very clear that this was a French Kids Film and not an American Kids Film. For example, there is at least one visual gag that I know will upset several parents’ groups, do with that information as you will.   

Have you watched Minions & Monsters? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked Minions & Monsters, we would recommend The Bad Guys 2 to you because it also vibes with the chaos of things.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Minions & Monsters
Directed by – Pierre Coffin
Screenplay by – Pierre Coffin & Brian Lynch
Based on – Despicable Me by Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio & Sergio Pablos
Music by – John Powell
Edited by – Claire Dodgson & Gregory Perler
Production/Distribution Companies – Illumination & Universal Pictures
Starring – Pierre Coffin, Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, Phil LaMarr & George Lucas
Rating – Australia: PG; Canada: PG; Germany: na; New Zealand: PG; United Kingdom: U; United States: PG