For their latest adventure, the Minions give us the Dungeons and Dragons campaign we never knew we needed. Oh wait, it’s actually their ode to Hollywood, followed by the Dungeon and Dragons campaign we never knew we needed. Let’s see if it’s the one we wanted.
Years before Gru, the Minions (all Pierre Coffin) search for their next Big Bad Boss. A tribe of Minions, whose rank and file include the artistic James, his best friends Henry & Ed, and their leader Dick, find themselves an outlaw to follow. It’s actually a western movie set in 1920s Hollywood. Studio Bosses Frank & Elwood Bright (Jeff Bridges) get the Minions under contract, under the direction of Max (Christoph Waltz). The Minions become the toast of Hollywood until the advent of sound debuts their gibberish.
While Dick and the Minions look for their next Despicable One, James and his friends decide to make their own movie. It will have Minions and Monsters, just like in this movie’s title, and Ed has a Spell Book that can help. They accidentally summon a mini-Cthulu named Goomi (Trey Parker), who leads them to several bigger monsters - Howard (Phil LaMarr), Phillips (Bobby Moynihan) and Eyereen. Too bad they actually want to destroy the world. It’s up to the Minions to save it.
All of this is related by a tour guide (Allison Janney) at a Movie History Museum (probably inspired by the Academy’s Museum). Or, maybe not, as the finale drops a weird surprise. It’s interesting enough, not enough to break my brain - do you know what does?
The setting. It’s most likely 1927, but the Oscars (established in 1929; the nickname wouldn’t be until a few years after that) are name-dropped. The Suffragette movement is still around, years after the 19th Amendment was passed. The sci-fi media of the day looks more like the 1950’s. And that’s not even getting into all the movie references, including Citizen Kane. Wait, what was that about the Suffragette movement?
Dick and the Minions eventually flock around Dort (Jesse Eisenberg), a sci-fi nerd dressed like Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Dort falls for Debbie (Zoey Deutch), a Suffragette, and they’re all sweet together. Her cause barely has anything to do, if at all, with the plot. Debbie’s positive influence on Dort, who claims to be an invader, gives her more relevance. Dort helps save the day, so perhaps there is truth to what are ostensibly his delusions of grandeur.
It’s still hard to tell the Minions apart, at times, but this installment has some of their best characterizations. James has a rather compelling arc as he follows his artistic dreams. It gets delightfully silly when he imagines winning an Oscar - a Banana-statue! Henry and James have a pretty good friendship, while Ed is just a fine fellow. Dick is also distinguishable by how detestable he is - even by Minions standards. Their relationship with Max, while initially rocky, surprisingly gets more compelling quickly. He's mostly gone by the second half, but his encouragement of James won't be forgotten. Where have these Minions been this whole franchise?
Now for some other stuff. Dort and the Minions' "invasion" has some surprisingly stunning cinematography. It may be a joke, but they were really that committed. For the opening, the Minions get Gumped into several ancient movies - George Melies and others ancient - and fool around. It's not only seamless, but delightfully silly. Goomi and his Monsters are cuddly enough, though they show up way too late for the narrative. John Powell, at least, illuminates Eyereen's threat rather well with his score. I think I said enough.
Anyone dreading Minions and Monsters can take comfort that it's short - around 89 minutes. They'll go by pretty quick as the Minions do their thing. Other than the Monsters and their delayed introduction, the narrative is well-paced. It doesn't have any lofty ambitions, no allegedly game-changing villains that fall flat, or anything like that. It's a fun matinee, first and foremost, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Banana!
