Minions & Monsters: Film Review

"Minions & Monsters"Directed by Pierre CoffinWritten by Brian Lynch and Pierre CoffinStarring Pierre Coffin, Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, Phil LaMarrRated PG for violence/action, language, and rude/macabre humorRuntime: 89 minutesRelease Date: July 1, 2026

Final Thought

Minions & Monsters is the strongest Minions spin-off so far, complete with a surprising, outward celebration of the filmmaking process.

Rating

★★★.5 / 5

Logline

From Illumination and Universal Pictures:

This is the rambunctious, ridiculous and totally true story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood, became movie stars, lost everything, unleashed monsters onto the world and then banded together to try and save the planet from the mayhem they had just created.

Review: Minions Go Muppets

I’ve always loved Despicable Me 2. The first was an obvious moment, but the addition of Kristen Wiig as Lucy in the second entry (NOT that god-forsaken Pharrell song) and her relationship with Gru and his girls made my brother and I serial re-watchers of that 2013 film. It’s understandable, then, that the following installment - the first Minions spin-off from 2015 - was a disappointment as my greatest attachment was to the well-developed human characters.

The first billion-dollar spin-off saw the Minions in the 1950s working for Scarlett Overkill, the world’s first female supervillain, and the second shows the 1970s origins of their relationship with their favorite master Gru, but in both films, the Minions feels secondary and subservient, largely by virtue of their individual characters being undeveloped. While The Rise of Gru was a surprising step-up from its predecessor, this third Minions & Monsters proves to be the strongest entry of this spin-off franchise because even though they’re not human, they now feel like real people.

The third spin-off and seventh overall entry in the highest grossing animated franchise of all time, Minions & Monsters follows a new Minion tribe on their search for a master. James, the quiet one of the group who loves to create stories and is shunned because of an accident, befriends Henry, another Minion, and their friendship blossoms over time. On their quest, the Minions stumble onto a Hollywood set in the late 1920s and inadvertently become silent film stars, but, with the advent of sound in film, the Minions struggle to find their place in the industry - à la Singin’ in the Rain (1952, dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen) and Babylon (2022, dir. Damien Chazelle) - leading James, Henry, and their deaf Minion partner Ed to attempt to make their own monster movie.

The strongest comparison to this film I could make is 1979’s The Muppet Movie, directed by James Frawley. That is a (much) superior film to this, but the Minions exist in a similar space to the Muppets in American popular culture as fictional characters whose real-life celebrity has surpassed their source material, and that has never been evident to me until now.

Minions & Monsters takes a wackier approach that is, at times, more satirical than anyone would expect, but to compare them at their simplest, the 1979 film sees the Muppets trying to get a movie made, and this film sees the Minions trying to make a movie. Within both films, though, lies metatextual commentary on the film industry and its history (to varying degrees), the impact of the creative process on friendship, and a self-aware ending that is sure to put a smile on your face.

Even more so, because there is now a Minion character in James with developed intentions past “serving a master,” there’s a stronger chance at him becoming iconographic. In the same way everyone knows that Miss Piggy is into fashion or Gonzo is into extreme sports, there is now space for relation, reflection, and empathy from the audience, which is much more important (and impressive) than just looking cute. The Muppets aren’t just the Muppets, each character is their own, and I’m glad that’s finally starting to happen with this franchise – no shade to Stuart, Bob, and Kevin.

Minions & Monsters stands as an intensely aggressive argument that its filmmakers paid attention in film class. Perplexing considering the context of its audience, the film spotlights the excitement and magic of filmmaking, with the first half being a love letter and welcome send-up of Old Hollywood. These moments shine, with lightly anachronistic references to Old Hollywood films like Modern Times (1936, dir. Charlie Chaplin), King Kong (1933, dir. Cooper and Schoedsack), and Citizen Kane (1941, dir. Orson Welles), amongst several others, but what stands out most is the repeated earnest response its main Minion protagonists have to every step of the filmmaking process.

Left to right: Henry and James (both voiced by Pierre Coffin) in "Minions & Monsters"

I was a fan of James’ infatuation with storytelling and how he often maintained a great sense of wonder about it. The first sequence of the Minions on the studio lot gave me such joy as it lightly reminded me of myself, but it also frames the Minions’ fascination perfectly: every era of time they’ve lived through all now exist in the same building. It is apt, as well, that they became famous in the silent film era as they’ve always been mostly physically humorous.

As I mentioned earlier, this entry works because it humanizes the Minions more than any of their other solo ventures, and the protagonists James and Henry are the most representative of that. They are friends that found each other, as James was practically ousted by the rest of their Minions tribe, and it comes off as incredibly sweet, especially, for me, as they enter the filmmaking world. There was a longing in James’ eyes, though, that made me think the friendship might be a bit homoerotic. I even thought that they were going to kiss at one point… (Possibly) Gay Minions were not on my 2026 bingo card, but I’m not mad.

It’s when the story veers away from the Minions, more specifically its protagonists, that Minions & Monsters becomes significantly weaker. I fear, as the film progresses, the filmmakers pulled too much on the wacky, less relevant threads of the story and (unfortunately) remembered that they had to make a movie for children.

The second half of Minions & Monsters is ignited by an incredibly obvious plot device briefly introduced in the first act. From then on, the film kind of loses itself, which is unfortunate considering the first 45-minutes of this film are some of the strongest of the Despicable Me franchise. Its use works in service of the main storyline, but its effects culminate in an increasingly unserious manner.

Ed in "Minions & Monsters"

Also, Dort, the robot character voiced by Jesse Eisenberg, and his random love interest, voiced by Zoey Deutch, felt wholly unnecessary and actively distracted from the more interesting storyline with James and Henry. I understand that films need subplots, and his character directly contributes to a few laughs and one of my favorite moments in the climax, but almost everything with Dort adds nothing to the experience of the film. I must note, also, that few other characters make an impact - the main exceptions being Christopher Waltz’ German director and Trey Parker's green Goomi. It isn’t until the film’s resolution that it comes back to what works: celebrating the power of cinema.

I do not foresee the target demographic of this film enjoying it for the same reasons I did. They will prefer the action of the third act to the allusory, referential nature of the first two. Most 7- and 8-year-olds don’t know that the 1920s were real, let alone know that movies were made back then. In a way, because of this, Minions & Monsters proves to be the most mature entry of the franchise also (butt jokes not withstanding), and thanks to genuine character development, pushes the Minions further into the Muppets territory.

Honestly, if a certain alien can make an appearance, show me a crossover! Miss Piggy would love them at first then hate them immensely. I see it so clearly!

Viewed on 6/29/26 at press screening

Published on 6/30/26

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