Minions & Monsters Review

The Minions films have always been a delivery mechanism for slapstick, and the trick of this one is that Pierre Coffin has found a setting where slapstick is the subject. It is 1927, the studios are converting to sound, and three Minions who were silent comedy stars are fired because nobody can understand a word they say. James, the artist of the three, decides to make his own monster movie, a borrowed spell book supplies the monsters, and what comes through is Goomi, a Lovecraftian squid god voiced by Trey Parker.

Illumination's Paris studio has done its best work here. The backlot recreation, the film within the film and the monster designs by Francois Launet have more texture than the franchise has bothered with before, and John Powell's score, which he described as overwrought and overplayed on purpose, is exactly that. Christoph Waltz and Jeff Bridges are audibly enjoying themselves.

At ninety minutes it never drags, and critics agreed more than they have for anything else in the Despicable Me series: 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, 70 on Metacritic, RogerEbert.com calling it the snappiest entry. The audience was smaller than usual, a 62 million dollar five day opening against Toy Story 5 and a 522 million dollar total. The best Minions film by a distance.