A lot of film critics and movie lovers in general hate the Minions. Despite the first two Despicable Me movies being pretty well liked, the yellow sidekicks that caught the world by storm have often been turned on by the general public. Not me though, I will put it on record that I have always enjoyed the Minions, so much so that I genuinely had a blast with Minions: The Rise of Gru. Now, if you pop on over to Rotten Tomatoes there's a certain animated sequel sitting at a crisp 90%, and it isn't Toy Story 5 (which has a 92%, but let's be honest, a Minions movie being even close to that is groundbreaking).
The story has been described as the total true story of how the Minions found their way into early Hollywood, became rich and famous, then fell on hard times amidst the shift from silent films to talkies. In a desperate attempt to keep his filmmaking dreams alive, a Minion named James with a passion for storytelling seeks to make a monster movie with his friends Henry and Ed, inadvertently unleashing a giant creature on the world which they must stop before it destroys not just the movies, but the world itself.
Never in any world did I think we'd get a Minions moving focusing on the early days of cinema, but that's exactly what this is. The opening credits include Minion-ized versions of classic early films, whether they be Georges Méliès A Trip to the Moon or the iconic Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station. From there we are thrown into a tour guide ushering people through a motion picture museum, complete with countless references including a display of E.T., one of Neo from The Matrix, and George Lucas (voiced by the man himself) on display in a glass case. The guide then brings her group to a statue of James and Henry, and when a kid doesn't know their story she gives them the whole history. There's a really fun build up to the Hollywood part of the movie, where we see the Minions try and fail to find a proper evil leader, but when they reach the movies this really takes off. I know I just mentioned a bunch of references, but the depths of cinematic history we go to here are genuinely insane. There are scenes making direct visual reference to City Lights and Safety Last!, not to mention a "Play it Sam" joke in honour of Casablanca, but we also get to see what Citizen Kane would be like if the Minions were the big stars of the day.
Despite it being half of the title, the monsters are where the film falters a little bit. There's a weird subplot with a robot man claiming to be about to conquer Earth, but that storyline ultimately leads to crowds of Minions joining a women's rights march (I can't believe I heard Minions chanting "give women the vote!" but I promise you it actually happens), so I appreciate the inclusion of it. The monsters that Henry, James, and Ed bring to life just didn't do much for me, giving a very generic look before unleashing their friend Irene who is essentially just a giant blob with a seemingly endless amount of eyes. I think if the creative team kept leaning into the love of the movies that makes this work and bring a monster closer to Godzilla or King Kong, I'd enjoy the third act more. As it stands though I just really didn't like the monster design.
Aside from that though I really have no complaints. I have fun with the Minions and seeing them take on the history of film is genuinely hilarious. The slapstick comedy on display is right up my alley, and I appreciated how deep everything got when it came to the references. The film was also made on a pretty small budget compared to other films of its ilk, making the already solid animation all the more impressive. I also loved the music, especially during the credits when the sound guys were given big sweeping beats out of nowhere. This is simply way more self aware than it has any business being, I can't believe I'm saying it but Minions & Monsters is a genuinely great movie and a fantastic time at the cinema. 4/5
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