Minions & Monsters

The Despicable Me franchise is still going strong after sixteen years. Serving as a launching pad for animation studio Illumination, the franchise has grown into four films and three spin-offs, centered around everyone’s favorite gibberish-speaking, overall-wearing yellow tikes, the Minions. These yellow goofballs have dominated pop culture since the first film and that love has not dissipated in the years since. The Minions, voiced by the film’s director/series co-creator Pierre Coffin, are globally beloved as their own made-up language of Minionese consists of various languages including French, Spanish, Italian and plain old gibberish, preventing any viewer from around the world feeling isolated by a language barrier. Despite being the seventh film in the franchise and taking place over 100 years ago, the latest Minions adventure might just be the best film in the series since the original.

Courtesy Universal

Set in the 1920’s, this Minions film follows a new group of little yellow dudes, focusing on James, Henry and Ed, three outcasts from the group led by Dick. James loves to draw images of the Minions alongside monsters and make flip book animations. On the Minions’ quest for a big boss to rule for, their search takes them to Hollywood as they crash a film set while aboard a runaway train. Initially chastised, the Minions are taken under the wing of film director Max (Christoph Waltz), who is under severe pressure from his bosses the Bright Brothers (Jeff Bridges) to deliver a hit. Max finds gold as the little yellow guys become huge stars almost overnight. Their streak of hits is short-lived however, as the rise of the talkies renders the Minions useless. Unable to adapt to the times, the Minions are kicked to the curb. James, Henry and Ed instead follow James’ dream of making a monster movie, while the remainder of the group follows what they think is another big boss in the nerdy, wimpy robot Dort (Jesse Eisenberg), who dreams of taking over the planet. In their quest to find a real monster to star in their movie, James attempts to conjure up a Kaiju from an old wizard’s spell book, but instead summons up the puny, but conniving Goomi (Trey Parker). The untrustworthy Goomi promises to help the Minion trio find bigger, badder monsters for their film, but plans to summon his monster buddies to destroy the world instead.

Directed by Pierre Coffin, this latest Minions spin-off is easily the most inspired, creatively vibrant entry in the franchise since the first Despicable Me film. Coffin, the co-creator of the franchise, shows his deep love and affection for the earliest days of cinema through deep-cut homages and Easter eggs aplenty. Minions & Monsters plays like Coffin’s celebration of the history of cinema with a plotline that manages to cover sci-fi creature features, westerns and slapstick comedy, to name a few. An opening credits sequence shows the Minions crashing through early silent pictures such as Georges Méliès A Trip to the Moon, The Great Train Robbery, and Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory. James is very much an audience surrogate for Coffin, a young outcast who finds freedom through his art, ready to tackle the world in order to chase his dream of making a film.

Courtesy Universal

Coffin’s film, co-written by Brian Lynch, is overflowing with reverence for Old Hollywood, finding clever ways to sneak in homages to Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, even references to films such as Metropolis and Citizen Kane. While these shows of affection will delight any grown cinefile, the film is just as exuberant for young filmgoers with little to no knowledge of these films or influential figures of cinema. The Minions themselves are clearly influenced by the early days of film, making Coffin’s on-screen displays of affection all the more endearing.

The Minions are front and center, but the stellar voice cast adds a good deal of legitimacy to the story. Jesse Eisenberg does great work as the awkward robot Dort, who plans to take over the planet, despite living with a roommate and having no ability to conjure up any wrongdoings. Christoph Waltz is an inspired choice to play Max, who becomes a mentor to James and aids him in attempting to make his own film, gifting him a film camera before they are forced to go their separate ways. South Park and Team America co-creator Trey Parker voices the nefarious Goomi, who even acts like a two-faced film producer, promising the Minions everything they hope for, yet plans to screw them over the first opportunity he gets.

Courtesy Universal

Minions & Monsters is an infectiously goofy Minions adventure and an earnest love-letter to the history of cinema. Director Pierre Coffin has made his most creatively inspired entry in the franchise to date with a fast-paced, funny and endearing film that just might be the perfect gateway for young audiences to open their minds to classic cinema.

Minions & Monsters is now playing in theaters.