Have you not seen the new MINIONS & MONSTERS in cinemas? Myself and are newly added writer Paul Gratton weigh in on the new Minions title from Illumination & Universal!
ABOUT: MINIONS & MONSTERS is an animated comedy set in 1920s Hollywood, where a group of Minions briefly become silent-film stars. When “talkies” ruin their careers, a trio of creative Minions tries to make their own monster movie by using an old sorcerer’s spellbook to summon real monsters, which accidentally threatens the world. The film begins in a film history museum where a tour guide recounts the story of two specific Minions, James and Henry. After a long history of accidentally destroying their evil masters, the tribe stumbles upon a 1920s Hollywood film set. They crash the scene, unintentionally become global silent-film superstars, throw lavish parties, and inspire fans to wear overalls and goggles.
Their fame is short-lived when sound is introduced to cinema; the Minions drop in popularity because they cannot follow scripts in their native language. Destitute and seeking purpose, James and Henry break away from the rest of the tribe. They fall in love with filmmaking and decide to make their own awesome monster movie.
Using an enchanted spellbook they took from an old sorcerer master, the Minions attempt to summon actors for their film. They perform a ritual expecting to conjure Cthulhu, but accidentally free a cute, Lovecraftian green creature named “Goomi”. Goomi takes them to cast other monsters, but the casting process goes haywire and unearths a chaotic, globe-threatening destroyer and a horde of rampaging monsters. The Minions must then band together with their new creature friend to save the world.
Jason’s Reaction: I am going to even surprise myself saying this, but I think this is the best Minions/Despicable Me movie to date! I have had a love-hate relationship with the series which has had some good moments (THE RISE OF GRU comes to mind with its silent comedy jokes) and some really bad ones where the storylines feel too noisy and forgettable — this one not only has a fun premise with an older generation of Minions but also a total love letter to making movies, showing them in theaters and the filmmaking process. Even the opening Universal logo was a charmer as we get a flashback to all of the older logos leading to a 1920’s Illumination Logo. Then there’s a modern sequence at a “museum” of sorts complete with visual sight-gags, one of which involves a film director that I dare not spoil. It leads to a flashback where we meet two of the OG Minions, James and Henry. One of the movie’s standout opening sequences is the Minions taking control of a runaway train that careens through Hollywood featuring so many adorable movie references from Harold Lloyd’s SAFETY LAST, Keaton, Chaplin & the like and soon after even a CITIZEN KANE reference that nearly made me fall out of my seat laughing.
THEN the movie turns into a fun monster mash as a spell is unleashed and done in a way where it’s JUST monster material enough that it won’t scare very little kids, but it’s also packed with movie references leading to a giant Orange blob with eyes that took over the entire huge screen when I watched it. VERY funny stuff, even if deep down I was still loving all of the old school references even more.
I was so happily surprised how movie-lover this was, and it’s also the most visually strong out of all of the movies. The gorgeous use of the widescreen frame, the colors and even John Powell’s music score is a real treat here – far less music “needle drops” than the other movies. This is a really great departure and proof that you can still take a movie series and do something new and unique with it. I can’t wait to see it again because I know I missed a bunch of references, but wow, what a great animated feature!
Paul’s Reaction: The banana-shaded critters known as minions are the purest expression of what eight year-old boys would be like if they had been raised with no social constraints. Pure id. They have their very own secret language, Minionese, a mix of nonsense syllables and little bits of various languages always mouthed by co-creator Pierre Coffin. Their history-spanning search for the perfect evil leader to devote their time and energy to has always worked best when the minions are sideline characters, providing comic relief to such very human wannabe-fascists as Gru. In other words, they can be very funny in limited doses. On their own, the silliness and slapstick can get a bit mind-numbing.
And so it was wonderful to discover that the first part of Minions & Monsters is a heartfelt tribute to the early days of silent movies, the 1920s when slapstick comedy was turned into a veritable art form. Film buffs will love the affectionate nods to Harold Lloyd hanging from a giant clock-face or Buster Keaton having a building’s facade collapse around him without getting a speck of dust on him. Other film references to such classics as Ben-Hur, Casablanca and Citizen Kane are also a delight (not to mention a cameo by George Lucas himself). But about halfway through the film, the advent of talkies arrive, and our minions lose their popular star status as their voice babble is found to be incomprehensible to a post-silent era film audience. Minions & Monsters then bifurcates into two storylines as the minions try to find a scary monster to use in a film they could direct, either by unleashing a huge blob with eyes that threatens to devour mankind, or by following a robot creature from The Day the Earth Stood Still. At that point, the film turns into yet another over-stuffed gag-a-second colourful splooge aimed at keeping short-attention span children quiet in their seats (see Super Mario Brothers). Anyway, half a good summer family movie is better than nothing at all. In the end, Minions without Gru cannot help but miss out on the human element, which is why Toy Story 5 is a superior film to enjoy with your children this summer.
MINIONS & MONSTERS is now playing in theaters!