“We’re going to make a monster movie … Oh yeah.”
It’s hard to believe that it was over 16 years ago that Despicable Me came out from Illumination Studios. I have to admit I wasn’t that impressed, and it was one of my least favorite animation features at the time. I would never have imagined that it would become a very successful franchise and that in 2026 I would be watching the seventh film in the franchise. Here’s what is more shocking. I could have not have predicted that the seventh entry in the franchise would suddenly become my favorite and one of the better animated films I’ve seen in recent memory. What a difference 16 years can make. Over those years the franchise has kind of split into two different intertwined sub-franchises. The Despicable Me films would continue the exploits of Steve Carell’s Gru, a mastermind arch-villain wannabe. We are introduced to the minions, who are these short, squarish creatures appropriately called minions because they exist to serve the every want of a villain boss. They are the ultimate henchmen. But their intelligence is somewhat locked into a child-like wonder, and they speak in a sometimes-understandable gibberish. But they have literally taken over the world for themselves. They’ve branched off into their own franchise, and they’ve taken over a good portion of Universal Studios amusement park, at least here in Florida. And most of the time I just can’t get too excited for the little guys, until Minions & Monsters came along. This one is rather good, and if you’re a film buff, and why would you be here if you weren’t, this is the Minions movie for you.
The film begins in the present day at a Hollywood studio tour led by an enthusiastic guide voiced by The West Wing’s Allison Janney. When they get to a statue that depicts two of the better known minions, she’s shocked that her audience doesn’t know who they are. So she sits them down on the floor and proceeds to tell their story. We begin with a rather needed backstory for the little yellow guys. We see them throughout history as they seek new evil bosses to serve. Of course, they usually end up messing up so bad that they kill off each potential boss. We fast forward to the 1920’s, and Henry, Ed and James have gone off on their own. They end up falling under the influence of a big-time filmmaker in Max, who is voiced by Christopher Waltz. The guy tries to use the minions for his own movie, but they get plans to make a movie of their own. They want to make a monster movie, but as Max reminds them, a monster movie requires them to have a monster. They happen to have a spell book that belonged to one of their previous ill-fated bosses, and they try to conjure a monster with scary results. Finally they end up conjuring Groomi, voiced by South Park co-creator Trey Parker. They think he’s going to be this huge Lovecraftian creature, but he’s rather a runt, very much a squeaky toy. But he’s evil as they come. He’ll use their search for a monster to create a huge monster army to take over the world. Of course, the minions have to stop him, even if it means bumbling along the way.
The animation is pretty much what you would expect. It’s a Minions movie all the way through with a ton of the usual sight gags and more than enough of the gibberish and fish-out-of-water material that gives these guys the cute factor they need even as they want to help bad guys. Pierre Coffin continues to voice the many voices of the minions, so there is a strong connection throughout this film and the franchise. But this entry rises a little above the rest. It’s not the same retread story with a new weapon or another McGuffin. Here the guys are trying to do something just to do it. The result is a movie that is in love with the movies. You need to pay strict attention at all times, because there are so many Easter eggs that call back to not only horror movies, particularly the Universal Classic Monsters, but so many wonderful moments that call back to movies in general. When this is out on video, it’s going to make a great drinking game to see how many of these references you can find. Take a drink when someone else is the first to catch it. There is also a team of cameo voices that include George Lucas, and Jeff Bridges comes along to voice the two minion leaders, Frank and Elwood. That’s a free one if you can catch the reference. There’s also a character called Dort, voiced by Jesse Eisenberg, who is a “robot” intending to invade the earth. We never quite know the truth about this convention regular, but he befriends the guys and is a big help with that final big boss battle.
The film has some trouble with the pacing, and some of the gags run a little too long. The real story and action doesn’t really happen until later in the film than I would have liked. But even with some big pacing issues it manages to be the most entertaining entry in the franchise. I’m of the firm belief that it’s all of those tributes that sucked me into it all. I figured the minions schtick has been played out. I was wrong. It turned out that all they needed to freshen things up a bit is monsters, even if they come very late in the film. I mean, “A monster movie needs a very scary monster.”
