Minions & Monsters Review: Just for the Longtime Fans, Mostly

Posted in: Illumination, Kaitlyn Booth, Movies, Review, Universal | Tagged: Minions & Monsters

Minions & Monsters Review: Just for the Longtime Fans, Mostly

Minions & Monsters isn't going to make a fan out of someone who doesn't already love these characters, but if you love them, this is going to be a solid entry to the franchise.

Published Wed, 01 Jul 2026 08:17:09 -0500
by Kaitlyn Booth
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Article Summary

• Minions & Monsters delivers a solid franchise entry for longtime fans, but it is unlikely to win over new viewers.
• The first act shines with 1920s Hollywood references, clever film history gags, and clear affection for moviemaking.
• The second act drags before the monsters arrive, though the third act rebounds with the chaotic fun fans expect.
• Minions & Monsters shows real creative care, but its gag-driven characters still seem better suited to shorts or TV.

Minions & Monsters will hit all the right spots for fans, but despite all of the love and effort you can feel from the creative team, specifically in the first act, it won't be enough to convert non-believers into being fans of these little yellow weirdos.

Directors: Pierre Coffin and Patrick Delage
Summary: 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.

There are some fundamental truths you have to admit to yourself when you begin reviewing movies: one of these is that sometimes a movie just isn't for you, and that isn't a bad thing. We've spoken several times in reviews about the concept of second-hand joy, of being in a packed theater with a bunch of fans who are just having the time of their lives. It's a unique experience that can only be felt in movie theaters, and it's a huge reason why seeing movies in theaters can make even films you admit to yourself just aren't for you better. The Minions are one of those things where you're either on board or you aren't, and there's a pretty good chance that if you're old enough to drink, if something like Minions & Monsters is the first time you interact with these things, you likely won't like it. You jumped on early or not at all, and that's fine.

The team at Illumination could have easily phoned in Minions & Monsters, and no one would be surprised, but the thing that will make even someone who doesn't like these things respect the film at the end of the day is the clear love and care that goes into them. Yes, they absolutely go for plenty of the low-hanging bananas fruit in terms of jokes, but mixed in there are some truly brilliant gags that will only appeal to adults.

For this film, a lot of that love and care can be felt in the first act, and specifically, the time the Minions spend in Hollywood. The historic stock footage moments listed at the end of this film's credits look like a film student's reference list for a term paper. The wells they draw from are insanely impressive. It's coming from a love of watching movies, making movies, and everything in between, and you can truly see that no one took the easy way out.

However, despite how good all of those old Hollywood and Minions through history segments might be, the rest of it is pretty much exactly what you expect from a Minions movie. The second act in particular is an absolute slog. which is ironic, since it takes until the second act for the titular "monsters" to appear in Minions & Monsters. That long wait makes the second act feel even slower, but once all of the monsters are out and about, the third act is a wacky kind of fun that fans of these characters will love.

Unfortunately, it also reinforces the most cynical part of Minions & Monsters and all of the Minions solo movies. For all the love the creative team puts into these characters, it's very apparent that they would work much better in shorts. The first and third acts of this movie, as standalone stories, are very good, but problems creep in with the connective tissue needed to stretch it out to 90 minutes. A 90-minute movie should never feel long, and a Minions film, which is basically non-stop gags, should never be slow enough to merit a nap.

Universal and Illumination want to make a billion dollars at the box office with this movie, yet the best creative solution for these characters would be shorts or a TV show, neither of which usually grosses a billion. This doesn't entirely undo all of that underlying love and care. Plenty of movies are made for cynical reasons, but when it is so incredibly apparent that there is a better and alternate way to do this, it's just not something you can ignore or disregard. They've made shorts before, 20 of them, and they made a web series, so they know how to do this right, so seeing them try to fit this square peg through a banana-shaped hole is painful to watch at times.

Minions & Monsters isn't going to make a fan out of someone who doesn't already love these characters. However, if you love them, this is going to be a solid entry to the franchise. Saying that something is made for the fans is not a ding or even something negative. We are, technically, seven movies into this franchise, so if you want to cater to your fanbase, go for it. The time to bring in new bodies has likely passed, and this one has the added benefit of strong merchandise sales. When the credits rolled in my full public screening, parents and children cheered and clapped. We love that for them, I love that for them, and that's enough.

Minions & Monsters

Review by Kaitlyn Booth

6.5/10

Monsters & Minions will hit all the right spots for fans, but despite all of the love and effort you can feel from the creative team, specifically in the first act, it won't be enough to convert non-believers into being fans of these little yellow weirdos.

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