Time: 90 Minutes
Age Rating: PG – Violence & coarse language
Voice Cast:
Pierre Coffin as the Minions
Allison Janney as Olivi
Christoph Waltz as Max
Jeff Bridges as Frank and Elwood Bright
Jesse Eisenberg as Dort
Trey Parker as Goomi
Zoey Deutch as Debbie
Phil LaMarr as Howard
Bobby Moynihan as Phillips
Director: Pierre Coffin

I remember watching and liking the first two Despicable Me movies at the time, but I never got around to watching any of the Minions movies. I just didn’t see the appeal of watching whole movies dedicated to those side characters even if they were the most marketable characters of the franchise. However, the latest Minions movie looked interesting from the trailers, and I heard some surprisingly positive reactions to it. So I decided to check it out, and I liked it better than expected.

The first half is actually pretty good, focussing on a group of Minions who eventually get involved with Hollywood. Of course I liked the references to movies, all the way to the silent era of film, including Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. It does feel like a surprisingly genuine love letter to movies and about the chaos, joy and magic of making movies. Originally, I didn’t think that Minions could carry a movie with them not being able to speak, but they kinda work here. I wouldn’t say that the jokes are hilarious, but they are decent as far as modern animated kids movies go. There is a romantic subplot following Jesse Eisenberg and Zoey Deutch which I didn’t care much for, but Eisenberg’s performance is so different and unrecognisable that it made those scenes worth watching. The second half of the movie is when the Monster part of the title comes in, and unfortunately it’s where the movie takes a notable step down. It becomes a standard Minions/Despicable Me movie, especially in its climax, and generally moves away from the stuff I really liked in the first half.

The animation is similar to previous Illumination movies (including Despicable Me). It’s pretty reliable, there are some solid and fluid action sequences, and some good visual jokes.

Minions & Monsters is a surprisingly enjoyable and endearing animated movie, even if the first half is considerably better than the second half.