SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
In search for a “big boss” to follow and serve, the minions travel the world in hopes of finding their purpose. Amongst them is James (voiced by Pierre Coffin) who loves to tell stories through art. He’s a bit of an outcast until he gets to know Henry and Ed who seem to appreciate his stories and artistic flare. As they go from big boss to big boss, James, Henry and Ed manage to accidentally hurt or kill each one, forcing the minions to move on and find another. One of those is a Russian warlock who casts spells from his spell book and, like the big bosses before him, the minions cast a careless spell of their own and are forced to move on once again. In doing so, they find themselves in old Hollywood, ruining the dailies of the director Max (Christoph Waltz) which he’s now forced to show the studio. Financiers Frank and Elwood Bright (Jeff Bridges) unexpectedly love the little yellow guys who crashed the film set and order Max to put them in every movie from now on. But, when the sound era is born, the minions can’t read English and, therefore, ruin every scene they’re in, leading to their dismissal. But when James wakes up from a dream with a sudden burst of inspiration for his own movie, Max helps him get started by giving him a camera. With the power of the spell book that Ed had saved when they burned down the warlock’s castle, the three yellow creatives get to work on shooting their own monster movie. It’s only when the monsters reveal their true plan that things get even more out of control.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
First of all, I’m never going to argue about another MINIONS offering. It’s like the Star Wars franchise. You put it out, I’m going to go watch it. But MINIONS & MONSTERS could’ve been an hour-long TV special.
The opening half hour is pure filler to ensure a theatrical runtime (and fit in all the movie references we’ll talk about in a second). The main villains don’t even come on screen until over halfway through the film and, until they do, everything seems to be fluff, serving very little purpose to the overall story. But this is a family movie so that can be forgiven, especially if there’s great value in the filler content.
While that’s not ideal, the real problem is a common mistake we see in the film industry over and over again.
BABYLON (2022), THE ARTIST (2011), HOLLYWOODLAND (2006) and LA CONFIDENTIAL (1997) are just some recent examples of how Hollywood thinks the everyday person loves old Hollywood when, in reality, they couldn’t care less. Naturally, as filmmakers and studios, they’re surrounded by people who do so that’s their viewpoint. Unfortunately, it’s a grossly out-of-touch perspective and MINIONS & MONSTERS makes the same mistake.
According to user Petalodesal on Letterboxd, there are 68 movies referenced in MINIONS & MONSTERS. As a critic, there’s a special place in my heart for most of them, but I have context because of my job and love for cinema. The average adult has never seen MODERN TIMES or A TRIP TO THE MOON or THE MONSTER SQUAD or even knows who Buster Keaton is. Sad? Maybe. But it’s the truth. And while you could make an argument that the audience doesn’t need to “get” the references, you could also make the argument that the entire movie (and plot) is built around them and, therefore, there’s an assumed level of familiarity that’s embarrassingly self-centered.
Writer Brian Lynch and director Pierre Coffin clearly love the lore and prestige of Hollywood, and that’s great, but this is a movie for mass audiences, not a niche indie release that will catch on like wildfire with their likeminded cinema-loving peers. So, while it’s adorable to see the minions back at it again, the entire premise sets it up for failure and I challenge you to look at who’s loving this movie. It’s the critics who — you guessed it — also love cinema.
JKG SCORE: 5.0 out of 10
Untitled Film Project 