Film Review: MINIONS & MONSTERS (2026): A Clever Conceit That Has Appeal for Both Kids and Adults

Minions & Monsters Review

Minions & Monsters (2026) Film Review, a movie directed by Pierre Coffin and Patrick Delage, written by Pierre Coffin and Brian Lynch and starring Pierre Coffin, Allison Janney, George Lucas, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Trey Parker, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, Phil LaMarr, Carlos Alazraqui, Barbara Eve Harris, Eric Bauza, Aaron Hendry, Camden Brooks, JP Karliak, Ashly Burch and John Kassir.

Pierre Coffin and Patrick Delage’s hilarious nod to old school Hollywood, Minions & Monsters, surprisingly sets the bar pretty high for movies featuring those pesky yellow characters known as the Minions. When the Minions fairly recently had their own movie, it didn’t really work out too well because there was no central focus in the storyline. Luckily, the filmmakers have learned from their mistakes and have placed the setting of the new Minions movie in 1920’s Hollywood with smart and hysterical results all around.

This film revolves around several key Minions: James, Henry, Ed and Dick. Though they are only slightly developed, they work as the central characters in this new animated gem. That’s mainly because of the enjoyable structure of the film which frames the movie with Allison Janney’s Olivia narrating the story and telling it to a bunch of young kids. It seems that minions, James and Henry, became real heroes somehow and the movie tells us that at the start as we await the details Olivia unveils a little bit at a time.

Ruled by several evil owners, the Minions found ways of either hurting or killing their leaders and end up banished together and without a true place to call home. That is until they find that their calling may be making films for the silver screen. When a director, Max (Christoph Waltz), accidentally gets shots of the Minions in his action scene, a producer (Jeff Bridges) takes an admiration for the yellow guys, and they start to become box-office draws for a while in silent films.

When talkies derail the careers of the Minions due to their poor speaking abilities, James won’t give up and when given a camera by Max, he starts to formulate an idea to make a movie about monsters. A green little creature called Goomi (Trey Parker), befriends the Minions, but has a secret agenda that involves waking up a couple of monsters with a plan to take over the world… or something like that.

Jesse Eisenberg serves as the voice of a side character, a robot named Dort who woos Debbie (Zoey Deutch) in style. Dort is cleverly voiced by Eisenberg who makes this character one of the most original ones he has ever played before, and you don’t even get to see the actor on-screen.

Trey Parker voices Goomi in an intriguing fashion as Goomi seems to be friendly for a while with a winning personality. Goomi plans on waking up a yellow blob with eyes that is a creature which could just take over the world if the Minions don’t stop it right in its tracks. Goomi “winks” at his monster friends to let them know he has ulterior motives that thwart the plans of the Minions to make their own movie.

Minions & Monsters really loves the movies. It’s also remarkably funny as evil leaders are “shot down” by accident thanks to the mishaps of the Minions. Paying homage to old school motion pictures, the film could remind one, at times, of Babylon, the Brad Pitt-starrer that was set in the same time period.

This new picture beautifully balances kid-friendly material with more adult-oriented scenes. It’s hard not to get frustrated with the Minions’ talking skills which occasionally seem like they’re communicating in Spanish, but it’s more like Spanglish crossed with Minion-talk, whatever that may actually be. Trey Parker may be the most fun part of the movie with the odd-looking friendly monster who has an agenda that doesn’t include being too kind to the Minions.

With all the ingredients for a fun time, Minions & Monsters doesn’t rush its story and takes a long time to introduce the monsters. Though the film is just roughly an hour and a half, it jam-packs enough in to make older movie-goers invested in the action. The voice work is solid across the board with Pierre Coffin’s “Minion talk” luckily being more fun than not this time around. George Lucas voices himself in a funny bit where he is actually an exhibit that is waiting for his time to be on display to be over. Allison Janney is terrific as the narrator of this enjoyable and creative tale.

Minions & Monsters is the best of the movies featuring just the Minions, but Gru pops up during the end credits, just in case you were wondering. All the action that happens in this new movie is – what else? – absurd. Still, one can’t help but laugh whenever the Minions do something goofy and wild. At one point, it sounds like they say the “F-word” but that’s probably just a misinterpretation of the ear. Of course, the movie is really toying with the audience and that’s part of the appeal.

Minions & Monsters has plenty of crazy sequences that will appeal to Minion fans, but old school Hollywood fans will love it even more than the fans of the yellow guys. It’s an animated hit that utilizes a brilliant idea to bring the Minions back together in their own movie again. See it.

Rating: 8/10

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