MINIONS AND MONSTERS

Rating 4 out of 5

Minions & Monsters is not only full of the infectiously fun Minion chaos that audiences have come to know and love over the years, but it is a passionate love letter to the Golden Era of Hollywood that creates an animated film that makes for the best entry in the Despicable Me franchise to date!

Ever since being first introduced in 2010’s Despicable Me, audiences have gone wild for Gru’s adorable and crazy helpers the Minions. While speaking a form of gibberish called Minionese, these little yellow creatures and the practical jokes and adventures they pull off have created endless laughter for audiences both young and old. For their third spinoff film from the main series of films, audiences are introduced to a new tribe of Minions separate from the ones that would end up working for Gru, in a film about how two Minions shaped the course of cinematic history after making their mark on Hollywood in the late 1920s. While never short on the hijinks and comical violence that has made the Minions an endearing part of animated cinema for the last decade and a half, director Pierre Coffin and his co-writer Brian Lynch have crafted a film that is a tribute to the Golden Era of Hollywood. With endless visual references to some of the most iconic films of the time, that when combined with the monster movie plot that unfolds in the film’s second half, Minions & Monsters becomes an animated film that is an homage to cinema that is certain to become a fundamental building block in the education of the next generation of cinema lovers.

The Minions have always served a boss, becoming an essential part in their boss’s plans for evil doings and world domination, but Minions & Monsters gives them something they have never had before: autonomy. Featuring a new set of Minions, the film follows James, his best friend Henry (never short on their undeniable homoerotic undertones to their friendship), and their deaf friend Ed and how they ended up changing the course of cinematic history after literally crashing in 1920s Hollywood on a runaway train. For the film’s first half, the story riffs on Singin’ in the Rain and Babylon as James is introduced to Hollywood and the shifting from silent films into talkies as the Minions become Hollywood celebrities, with James becoming a Sammy Fabelman character (from Steve Spielberg’s The Fabelmans) as he wants to make his first film as a director, Henry becoming his trusted collaborator and Ed their cameraman. It captures the excitement and glamour of Hollywood, with some great moments capturing the technical side of filmmaking and the struggle faced by silent film stars as cinema evolved into talkies.

After the harsh realities of the talking era of cinema takes its toll on the Minions, the story shifts into a monster film with some heavy science fiction influences, which shifts the films that are being paid tribute to. Pulling inspiration from The Blob with the film’s final boss monster, and a subplot involving Jesse Eisenberg’s Dort that pays tribute to The Day the Earth Stood Still, a different type of film education unfolds that seamlessly blends with the Golden Era of Hollywood references and the Minions humours actions and unhinged cartoonish violence, ensuring that the film’s final act ends is an action packed, hilarious and spectacle filled sequence. But beneath all of this, the love of cinema and James’ dream is never lost as it becomes the driving force of the film’s story that creates a wonderful story about following one’s dreams and artistic expression in addition to the lovable slapstick humour of the Minions.

The Despicable Me and its spinoff films have always featured excellent animation, and Minions & Monsters is no exception to that standard, with its colourful and excellent animation bringing to life this Hollywood adventure in every frame. However it is the endless visual references that make this film a special visual tribute to cinema. From references to some of the most iconic imagery from the films of Charlie Chaplin and the Lumiere Brothers to classics such as Citizen Kane, A Trip to the Moon, The Great Train Robbery and Casablanca that the Minions take a starring role in, there is no shortage of appreciation for cinema’s history throughout. The tributes extend beyond the visual, with John Powell’s musical score incorporating musical motifs from the Golden Era of Hollywood. With the most obvious being the incorporation of “Hooray for Hollywood” from 1937’s Hollywood Hotel which has long been the iconic Hollywood theme music, to the scores of Golden Age composers such as Bernard Hermann and Max Steiner that capture each genre of film that Coffin and Lynch are emulating in their screenplay, Powell’s scoring is a cherry on top of an already excellent film as he conjures up a joyful and zany musical score that captures the uncontrollable energy and diabolical nature of the Minions with a deeply rooted love for film scores.

Returning once again to voice the Minions, Coffin’s voice performance captures everything that audiences love about these characters in spades, even if the Minionese he is speaking this time features more understandable English than normal (a necessary requirement with this film featuring less screentime with characters speaking English to ensure that the audience can follow the plot progression). The new voice cast is terrific, with Eisenberg being completely unrecognizable and fully creating the character of Dort, an alien robot with a clumsy and quirky individual who you are never truly sure if he is an alien or not. Zoey Deutch is charming as ever as Debbie, Dort’s suffragette love interest, who was born to act alongside the Minions; Christoph Waltz and Jeff Bridges strong additions as figures that the Minions encounter in Hollywood, and Trey Parker as Goomi, the main monster the Minions interact with in the film, is a diabolically fun bundle of energy and plays perfectly of Coffin’s voice performance as the Minions. While the voice cast is full of big name stars, they each give a voice performance that perfectly embodies their character and makes their casting feel more intentional rather than just rounding out the film with a bunch of Hollywood A-list celebrities as so animated movies have begun doing these days.

Even seven films later, the infectious laughter and entertainment created by the Minions shows no sign of losing its magic, and instead reaches new heights for the franchise in Minions & Monsters with a new story arc for the Minions in this beautiful tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood. It is hard to imagine any way for Minions & Monsters to be more endearing as a film lover, expect for the missing obligatory Minion musical number which could have seen James and the Minions performing a song from Singin’ in the Rain to be the cherry on top of this love letter to the Golden Age of Hollywood, as everything that Pierre Coffin and Brian Lynch have put into this film will either have audiences laughing or reminiscing about some of the most iconic films to ever grace the silver screen. Packed with endless references to cinema’s history and some of the most iconic films ever made, there is more than enough to tickle the fancy of any cinephile combined with the chaotic and hilarious antics of the Minions, making Minions & Monsters not only one of the most entertaining surprise of the summer movie season, but the best entry in the franchise yet!