There’s something to be said for leaning into the joke…

Even for movies for the kids, the Minions franchise has historically been on the pretty dumb side.   While Minions & Monsters is no different, it’s willingness to put these characters in the middle of the rise of Hollywood, embracing the classic creature feature era and a myriad of jokes paying homage to classic cinema, just might make it the best one of the franchise yet.

Follows the Minions in 1920s Hollywood as they search for frightening creatures for their monster movie, partner with a green creature, and must save the planet after unleashing monsters.

Admittedly this has never been a franchise known for its nuance, but what Minions & Monsters does here by nailing us with a myriad of fun sight gags and combining it with a genuine love letter to early Hollywood allows the actual Minion characters to never once feel out of place and they flow organically with all the nonsense around us.

For clarity’s sake, just know that these are different Minions then the ones in the previous films (I’m not sure it matters but just run with it) and what creator and director Pierre Coffin is doing here is essentially making a movie that will not only amuse himself but his target demographic as well.  Of course the characters are off the wall, but as he tries to frame it all in the Hollywood story we actually get a little bit of structure and sense of purpose for the Minions as a whole.  That’s kind of what makes it interesting when we get a slight break from the mold and a couple of these guys who just want to make movies.

It’s frenetic and non-stop and gets interesting when Goomi (voiced by Trey Parker) takes our heroes to summon some monsters for their movie not knowing that Goomi is intent on destroying the planet.  He’s of course the most interesting character in the film, but he’s only around in the final act of the film.

Inherently the movies in the entire Despicable Me/Minions franchise are a little silly and leaning towards the younger demographics, but for the first time here in Minions & Monsters we get a real sense of joy as this movie is meant to be more then colourful action with funny sounding characters.  It’s meant to be a celebration of the movie going experience and having the ability to lose yourself in something that’s ridiculous and ultimately just fun.  That’s Minions & Monsters; just kick up your feet, add popcorn and enjoy.