The little, yellow, ambiguously humanoid Minions may not have been the focus of 2010’s Despicable Me, but they proved to be the most marketable thing about the film, and 16 years later, we are now blessed with the seventh movie in the franchise (and the third to be solely focused on the Minions themselves).
Set in the 1920s during the early days of Hollywood, the latest pre-Gru adventure follows a group of Minions as they become silent movie stars and unwittingly unleash monsters upon the world. Against all odds, Minions & Monsters has garnered the best reviews of the entire Despicable Me/Minions franchise, with critics calling it a silly, light-hearted, entertaining romp with plenty of pratfalls for the kids and some surprisingly sophisticated references to classic Hollywood for film buffs.
Here’s what critics are saying about Minions & Monsters:
A shockingly delightful madcap comedy that feels like it could convert even the most staunch Minions hater into, if not necessarily a fan, at least a begrudging admirer. The trick director Pierre Coffin and his co-screenwriter Brian Lynch land on to make the characters’ antics more charming is genuinely inspired, textually connecting their slapstick to the very roots of moviemaking for a film packed with references to silent film icons like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton
— Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
Improbably, this fantastic animated kids movie, sure to be a highlight of the summer, is an adult cinephile’s dream… Once Goomi and Dort arrive, Monsters swerves into a more familiar, save-the-world race to the finish. Even so, the Minions always make the would-be banal into something perfectly weird and wonderful.
— Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post
This third installment, directed by Pierre Coffin (who also voices the Minions), is far and away the best of the bunch… The result is shaggy and meandering, but also surprisingly uncynical, while allowing room for more real jokes and imagination… Even as it dips into about a dozen different worlds, it rarely feels haphazard nor frenetically diversionary. The kids will be sucked in, but the parents might even join the babble, too.
— Brandon Yu, New York Times
The film’s first half, concentrating on their cinematic adventures, contains gags that movie buffs will love even if they’ll completely go over the heads of young viewers, including homages to classic screen routines by Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton… Minions & Monsters proves much more effective in its first half before the monsters.. enter the scene and the film degenerates into the usual over-the-top freneticism afflicting so many animated films geared to kids. But for a good while at least, it’s surprisingly sophisticated and effective in its satirical humor.
— Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
A frenetic, fuzzy, practically amorous love letter to Old Hollywood that, a few narrative branches aside, is maybe the most invigorating any of these films has ever felt… In an age where it feels like no one remembers or cares about the history of the medium they enjoy (and anxiety that young ones are pulling away from movies older than when they were born), it’s heartening to feel like Minions & Monsters might just expose kids to the cinematic forebears that made their beloved Minions possible. And, in so doing, made the snappiest, most cohesive, and entertaining entry in this series to date.
— Clint Worthington, RogerEbert.com
The entire thing feels alive in a way that the Despicable Me franchise, as a whole, hasn’t in a while… What makes Minions & Monsters so refreshing is that you aren’t exactly sure where it’s headed next and what it’s going to tackle… [It] builds to an open-hearted tribute to the power of the communal moviegoing experience that is unexpectedly emotional and makes the film feel like it could be the best in the franchise, perhaps since the very first Despicable Me.
— Drew Taylor, TheWrap
Silent movie fans, and film buffs in general, will enjoy the loaded-with-gags first half more than the second… After a first half that was clearly intended to cater to grown-ups, it’s only fair that the kiddies get their fast-paced animated goodies.
— Odie Henderson, Boston Globe
Minions & Monsters continues to build to an extended action climax that, while moderately engaging, feels like something we’ve seen before in other modern-day animated films. Still, the film does at least freshen up the series formula, slyly using the kid-favorite Minions to smuggle in a celebratory message about the theater-going experience and the enduring power of cinema.
— Derek Smith, Slant Magazine
Returning director Pierre Coffin bombards viewers with the slapstick and gibberish you expect in a Minions movie, but the references to cinema history — and the love letter to both moviemaking and moviegoing — give this kiddie sequel a wonderful jolt of smarts and sentiment.
— Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict
Had the film been contained by its clever premise – the Minions must fight to preserve their place in Hollywood – it might have achieved the crystalline simplicity that is a hallmark of good children’s films. But aiming to both lead the Minions in a newer, smarter direction and appease the gibberish-fest expectations set by the franchise, Coffin bites off more than he can chew. As a result, Minions & Monsters disappointingly circles back to where it started.
— Rafaela Bassili, Guardian
M&M’s preamble is its best stretch: a romp through eras as the little yellow guys go in search of a “big boss” to serve… These setpieces are darling confections: visually inventive, fleet, and furiously funny… Ultimately, though, the Hollywood setting is just window dressing for a fairly generic disaster movie – noisy, busy, eventually brutalizing in its relentlessness.
— Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle
More… smart gags would have been welcome, but they peter out after half an hour or so. For the most part, this franchise continues to be broad, brainless physical comedy aimed at 5-year-olds and is content to allow parents to be bored rather than operating on two levels like the Shrek and Toy Story series… Mr. Coffin et al. stage a colorful but uninteresting clatter of random mayhem, only occasionally interrupted by an ironic wink.
— Kyle Smith, Wall Street Journal
Minions & Monsters is in theaters now.
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