REVIEWS

Minions & Monsters is the third film in the Minions spin-off franchise and the seventh movie in the overall Despicable Me franchise, created by Illumination. I am a big fan of the Despicable Me movies and in fact all of Illumination’s films like The Super Mario movies, The Secret Life of Pets movies and more! However, I don’t know what it is, but I’ve never really liked the first Minions movie. I just didn’t think it hit as hard as I would’ve wanted it to. It wasn’t until 2022, when I watched Minions: The Rise of Gru, which I really liked and thought was the go-to prequel for Despicable Me. However, after hearing about Minions & Monsters I was NOT EXCITED. They just weren’t marketing it well, and the hype was just not there. And someone like me would really dig I premise of trying to make a movie but everything wasn’t clicking in the trailers and promos shown. So, after finally going to see this film with a friend, I can say...it really really surprised me how much I ended up liking this movie!

In this movie we follow three minions, James, Henry, and Ed. It was a big change from the last two which had Kevin, Bob, and Stewert which I ended up loving! Their moments together are hilarious and heartfelt. There are also characters like Goomi (who I LOVED), Dort, and others who I found really enjoyable! The comedy was probably the best out of all the other Minions and Despicable Me movies, however, the thing I loved the most was all the film references and just overall emotional core. There are easter eggs to films like E.T, Jaws, and others which I found cool and unique. The whole journey about wanting to make a movie and how they really wanted to win an Oscar was just different from other Illumination movies. These aspects really made Minions & Monsters feel awesome and is in my top 2 of best overall Despicable Me movies.

The only thing I found annoying was that the first 10-15 minutes was a longer repeat of the first Minions movies, which was just them trying to find a boss. Obviously, they added new funny bits and stuff, but it really dragged on to the point where I think they only started going off on their journey to make their movie about halfway through the film. I get that these movies are short, and it’s to crop down segments like this, but if they just trimmed it a little, there could have more moments with them making the movie.

Overall, Minions & Monsters was a great surprise and succeeded in bringing a hilarious, heartfelt, and for the first time in the Minions franchise...an actual, proper story! Again, it’s made for kids, but all the movie references and stuff are good for adults as well. I reckon kids 10+ will understand the easter eggs, but for just pure enjoyment kids 6+ will really like it. I’m happy for these Minions movies to keep on going but some advice for Illumination, if you’re going to do a Minions 4...make it have Gru in it, I really missed him in this film, so maybe a teenage Gru?