The Minions have never gotten much critical respect despite their key role in the Despicable Me series, which has become the highest-grossing animated film franchise ever. So it’s telling that in their newest adventure (the seventh entry overall), the unintelligible little yellow creatures conquer Hollywood, becoming a big-screen sensation. Truth is likely to follow fiction when it comes to Minions & Monsters, which is the smartest, funniest film they’ve appeared in. At least, until it isn’t.
Co-creator Pierre Coffin (directing solo for the first time and scripting with Minion veteran Brian Lynch) makes this effort a love letter to Hollywood. Not the Hollywood of today, mind you, but rather the early days. The film exudes affection even before it begins, with its use of all the Universal Pictures logos from the present day to the studio’s beginning. An opening montage features the Minions inserted Zelig-style into classic footage by the likes of Muybridge and the Lumiere brothers.
Minions & Monsters
The Bottom Line
Clever, before it caves to freneticism.
