Minions & Monsters (2026)
Directed by: Pierre Coffin
Premise: An animated film. The Minions arrive in 1920s Hollywood and become movie stars. They plan to make their own monster movie but resurrect an actual monster instead.
What Works: The Minions were introduced as supporting characters in 2010’s Despicable Me and have since grown into their own independent spinoff franchise. Illumination has continued making Minion films not necessarily because they had good ideas but because the Minions and their merchandise have proven remarkably popular and profitable. However, Minions & Monsters has been made with genuine inspiration. This picture puts the Minions in 1920s Hollywood and allows them to run wild through moviemaking history. That turns out to be a great combination since the Minion’s comedy was already inspired by the Marx Brothers and Buster Keaton. This is the Minion film for people who love movies, especially classic Hollywood films. Minions & Monsters is packed with jokes and references to classic Hollywood movies such as Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Modern Times, and Steamboat Bill, Jr. These references will play to viewers who will recognize them and for everyone else, namely children, the references are humorous gags. This may be the funniest of the Minion films. It’s certainly one of the most consistent. Minions & Monsters is dense with jokes, one coming after another in quick succession. The opening sequence sticks the Minions into recreations of classic silent era movie moments and it is absurd fun but also remarkably well crafted.
What Doesn’t: Minions & Monsters splits into two narratives. The primary story is of three Minions who have committed to making a movie. The secondary plotline is about the rest of their tribe attaching themselves to a robot who plans world domination until he gets sidetracked by romance. The primary narrative is great but the secondary story much less so. The secondary plotline and the prologue of Minions & Monsters mostly rehash the stories and scenarios we’ve seen in the Despicable Me films but without the family elements that made those stories impactful. As a period piece, Minions & Monsters is full of anachronisms. The movie is set in 1929 but many of the films it references were made much later. Suffragettes are seen demonstrating for the right to vote but the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. To be fair, we don’t come to a Minion movie for historical accuracy but this film is so fast and loose with history that it is sometimes distracting.
Bottom Line: Minions & Monsters is one of the best entries in this franchise. It’s one of the best crafted of these films and the most consistently funny. It also offers a novel idea while capitalizing on what has made the Minions so appealing.
Episode: #1107 (July 12, 2026)