Illumination has decided to release yet another cash cow, prolonging their scourge on children's cinema and middle-aged Facebook groups just slightly longer. Minions and Monsters, however, is at least a somewhat bearable addition to the franchise. This is for one reason only, which doesn't even last long enough to redeem the Minions for their crimes, being that they try something new for the first time in this franchise's long, 9-year run. As a Minions movie, this is quite good - unfortunately, that's never been the highest of bars to cross.
Many parts of this movie's first act felt as if they were simply retreading the same steps as the original Minions movie. We just see the Minions going from boss to boss, managing to mess something up, which leads to their boss's demise. Of course, this sequence is all there to establish the spellbook that later proves integral to the plot, as it summons any monster that changes the story in any way. However, for this plot device to be shown, there was no need for an entire 15-minute sequence, including multiple other bosses that have no relevance whatsoever.
Before this was released, there were many reports of a 15-minute sequence spoken entirely in Minionese. You hear that and assume this sequence would explore a very different approach to how we, as the audience, understand the Minions, relying completely on physicality to convey any speech, the audience piecing together the plot through movement alone. However, what this really means is that their dialogue simply consists of many more English words, with most sentences just ending in English.
The concept of a deaf Minion is explored in this movie, which is incredibly interesting. This Minion relies completely on sign language and physical movement to communicate with his own kind, more than just the audience. This interests me so much as it could mean the audience is able to understand him more than any other Minion, even though he's the most misunderstood among his own kind. In reality, this character and his sign language are made complete jokes, and, unless he's being used as a punchline, this Minion would completely disappear until needed again.
Once we got past this first 15-20 minutes, the rest of the first act did feel as if it came from a place of genuine love for the art of cinema. There were a few moments that actually did have a lot of good. For example, the chase scene through LA, when the Minions first arrive in Hollywood. This worked so much better than anything else because it actually seemed to make somewhat of a conscious decision to change its own formula, which felt quite refreshing from Illumination. The same can be said about the scene much later on, of the monsters chasing one of the Minions around the movie set.
After this first act, however, we return to the general Minion antics that we've all got used to, and bored of, over the last near-decade, losing this movie any allure that it originally gained.
The entire movie, especially after the Minions are kicked out of Hollywood, feels incredibly rushed. Any monster scenes feel as if they aren't given the right amount of screentime, partially due to the retelling of 2015's Minions taking up so much unnecessary time. The Minions exploring Hollywood feels rushed because we never really see any of it. We essentially see them in their first working scene, then immediately have a montage rushing through their entire careers, leaving us at the point at which the Minions become washed up. Even the final 'fight' against Irene felt rushed. This is something that the movie had been leading up to since we met Goomi, yet it felt as if it was over in about 30 seconds - because it almost was.
This is something that is almost completely unnecessary, yet bothers me more than it has to - this movie ruins its own continuity... twice. First, the original Minions movie establishes that the Minions were trapped in ice from 1812, right after the death of Napoleon Bonaparte, until 1968 - likely to avoid explaining where they were, and who they worked for, in the 1930s. However, we see that the Minions were in Hollywood long before the emergence of sound, and stayed until it was used, which would have been in the mid-1920s. They then double down on this time period by including a campaign for women's suffrage spanning the entire movie, which is something that took place over the course of the late 19th and early 20th century in America.
Another continuity error, which is much less important and doesn't destroy the entire point of this movie, is that they mess up why the Minions wear their iconic blue overalls. In this movie, the Minions are trying on suits during their fame montage, see a cleaner wearing these overalls, decide to don this look, later creating a new fashion trend. However, in the 2015 movie, when sneaking into VillainCon, the Minions discover their iconic look after trying on many different outfits.
With all its flaws and regular Minions annoyingness - you'll notice I never spoke about anything after meeting Goomi - this is largely the most interesting and original feeling Despicable Me adjacent movie, as original as the Minions can be. If this movie, its surprising love letter to cinema in the first act, and Henry's passion for filmmaking manages to inspire even one child's future love for film, then so be it. All I hope is that Illumination leaves the Minions alone one day.
No AI was used in writing this article.