Minions & Monsters (2026)

A gloriously unexpected love letter to Old Hollywood, Minions & Monsters proves there is still life left in the little yellow icons.

I’ve seen all the Despicable Me and Minions movies in one form or another over the fifteen years since the original first hit our screens. And as soon as it did, the hysteria over the little yellow minions was such that a spin-off movie was inevitable. We’ve had four Despicable Me films now, and this, Monsters & Minions, is the third film in the Minions spin-off franchise. After almost every instalment, I’ve questioned the validity of any future films. These exist only for monetary purposes. Until now, that is.

Minions & Monsters is, of course, made with money in the minds of everyone involved, yet director Pierre Coffin’s initial attitude when presented with the idea of a new Minions film was apparently one of dismissal. Until he saw the script. Minions & Monsters is a glorious homage and love letter to Old Hollywood, a kid’s film about film itself, one that actually tells many historical tales of the Roaring Twenties within the industry and is bizarrely a history lesson in itself for children who want to ask questions of it. But even if you just want ninety minutes with your favourite characters, well, it works just as astutely.

It opens with a rewind of the Universal logo from the current 4K UHD version all the way back to the silent era of cinema, before following Allison Janney’s tour guide as she takes us through the story of how Minions haven’t just been around since prehistory; they were actively involved in the dawn of Hollywood’s talking era. Through their various quests serving many different evil villains, they eventually arrive in California and, in the most ludicrous ways, end up as the biggest stars in Hollywood. Two particularly gifted minions, Henry and James, are central to the film (and a pain to the Minion status quo), and joined by deaf minion Ed, decide to make their own Minions film; they just need to recruit some real monsters for it. From here on, it’s madness as usual.

But where Monsters & Minions differs from previous instalments is in the opening set-up. We’ve seen the birth of cinema depicted many times before on screen; some portrayals are better than others. Strangely, this reminded me of Damian Chazelle’s divisive yet brilliant Babylon (2022), without the explicit excess. In the case of Minions & Monsters, we get to see the Minions producing some of Hollywood’s most iconic moments. Be it Buster Keaton’s house fall in Steamboat Bill, Jr (1928), Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936), or a hilarious retreading of The Maltese Falcon (1941), Minions & Monsters takes its influences and nails them in a way that is both funny and loving. And there’s an entire subplot built around The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), which is utterly hilarious.

This is a Minions film for cinephiles as much as it is for kids, and that’s hugely impressive. It’s silly, it’s stupid, it’s slapstick of the highest order; and yet it’s one of the most effective and reverential nods to Old Hollywood you’re likely to see. It even tips its hat to one of my favourite films of all time, the 1928 Soviet masterpiece Man with a Movie Camera, and even with all the references I’ve mentioned in this review, I’m barely scratching the surface. Minions & Monsters might not be a masterpiece, but it’s not simply the best Minions or Despicable Me film; it’s arguably the best animation to be released this year. And that sentence surprises me as much as it does you. ★★★★ 7.8/10