Minions and Monsters
Review by Mark Woodring
This weekend, Disney/Pixar will have to fend off a direct attack against Toy Story 5 from the latest installment in the Minion-verse: Minions and Monsters.
Just like the Toy Story franchise, the Minions are generally seen as a bulletproof theatrical release.
But a head to head slugfest? That might be new.
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, then listen as he and Ryan discuss the film further. Remember, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
90 Minutes, Rated PG
Written by Pierre Coffin, Brian Lynch
Directed by Pierre Coffin, Patrick Delage
Synopsis:
Follows the Minions in 1920s Hollywood as they search for frightening creatures for their monster movie, partner with a green creature, and must save the planet after unleashing monsters.
The reason Minions films have been critically bulletproof, of course, is that they have been of sufficient quality as to overcome any minor shortcomings or flaws.
Minions and Monsters is no exception.It is, however, a bit different in that the we get Minions without a “Big Boss,” but who are instead working in pre-depression Hollywood making blockbuster films (art imitating life?).
Once “talkies” come along, however, the gravy train dries up and creative force James, along with his pals Henry and Ed, decide to make a monster movie while the rest of the tribe, lead by Dick (a recurring joke, just like everyone named Dick), finds themselves sworn to Dort, who claims to be a robot from another world, here to conquer Earth (but who sounds like Jesse Eisenberg in a robot suit.
James finds a spell in a book they saved from a previous master (a sequence of events in the opening of the film outlining their quest for a suitable big boss, all of which ultimately end in failure) to summon the monster he needs for his film. This does not work out as he intends, but which leads to the summoning of the climactic monster and the reunification of the Minion tribe.
At one a typical 90-minute Minion gag-fest alongside some homages to classic silent movie lore (Chaplin, Keaton, etc.), and with some great voice work, Minions and Monsters will surely entertain the young ones (as it did in my screening) while being just meta enough to keep adults from falling asleep, and maybe even laughing here and there throughout.
The lack of a traditional “villain” plot for the Minions to assist with the film drags a bit through the middle, but with such an abbreviated run-time, it won’t destroy the movie for anyone.
Minions and Monsters should dethrone Toy Story 5 this weekend, but either of them (or both… both is good) are worth your time and dollars for a holiday weekend outing with the family.
Minions and Monsters hits theaters Wednesday, July 1, and features the voices of Pierre Coffin, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Trey Parker, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, Phil LaMarr, and George Lucas.
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