Minions & Monsters Parent Guide

James (Pierre Coffin) has always been different than the rest of his Minion tribe. Instead of dedicating his time to finding and serving an evil boss, he prefers drawing and creating stories. Only his best friend, Henry (also Pierre Coffin) seems to understand and support him. But when the Minions stumble into 1920s Hollywood in search of a new boss, James finds his calling in the motion picture business. The Minions are the biggest stars in the world of silent films, until “talkies” become the norm and their inability to speak English sees them cast out of the industry. 

Undeterred, James writes a new monster movie, but there’s a big problem: he doesn’t have a monster. What he does have, however, is a magic book from a previous evil boss that contains spells to summon monsters from another realm. Unsurprisingly, dealing with monsters turns out to be much messier than he imagined. 

I was shocked when Minions: The Rise of Gru turned out to be entertaining, and I’m even more shocked that Minions & Monsters is one of the better animated films I’ve seen recently. It’s not amazing, but it’s above average for children’s media and surprisingly well written for a story about these annoying little critters. There are a lot of fun Old Hollywood Easter eggs, including a hilarious Citizen Kane reference, which adds something for the adults in the audience to latch on to while trying to ignore the less mature humor we expect from the Minions. I do think there were fewer fart jokes than previous installments, but that still leaves lots of bare butts and pratfalls. 

Thankfully, the film’s plot is original and well done, though it does have structural issues. The first two acts are very long, so the third act feels far too rushed, and the monsters get very little screen time or development. That aside, one of the main side plots is hilarious, and Jesse Eisenberg gives a standout performance. At its core, this is a funny movie with a lot of heart, even with the high levels of potentially annoying Minion antics. 

Parents should be aware that the level of slapstick violence and scariness is about the same as in other installments in both the Minions and the Despicable Me franchises. The monsters themselves are designed with young audiences in mind, and are not particularly terrifying. In all, if your child is a fan of the franchise, they will be sure to enjoy this one. Adults might even be surprised by how much they like it too.