- MINIONS & MONSTERS
- Starring the voices of: Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges and Allison Janey
- Directed by: Piere Coffin and Patrick Delarge
- Rated: PG
- Running time: 1 hr 30 mins
- Universal
Our score: 3.5 out of 5
The French studio Illumination has released so many movies with the little yellow Minions that their high-pitched babble no longer seemed cute or funny.
Thankfully, series co-creator Pierre Coffin revives the series by taking his creatures back in time, not just before Gru became their boss, but to the dawn of time. They live to serve, but are so eager to do so that they accidentally kill their supervillain supervisors.
Two of the Minions (all voiced by Coffin), however, might be able to do more constructive things that simply the carrying out the bidding of would-be tyrants. James has the instincts of a master storyteller, and Henry has the skills to make James’ ideas real. The hard-of-hearing Ed stands up for the two when the bossy Dick berates them.
In their quest to find a new master, the yellow horde stumble into Los Angeles where they ruin a frustrated director’s difficult take. Max (Christoph Waltz) initially believes that his career is over because the Minions thought the actor they were chasing was actually a wanted outlaw.
Instead, the studio honchos The Bright Brothers (both voiced Jeff Bridges) believe that Max has discovered new stars. The little guys have a gift for destroying any object they touch, but they are hopelessly lovable and give Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton serious comic competition.
When sound hits at the end of the Roaring 20s, however, the lads are in for a world of hurt because their squeaky banter is indecipherable except for the enthusiastic cry of “Banana!” James winds up writing a great monster movie with Max’s encouragement and inadvertently creates some actual monsters in the process. Their leader Goomi (Trey Parker) seems eager to help, although his ambitions may be other than cinematic. He looks like a cuter version Cthulhu, but he may be just as dangerous as the H.P. Lovecraft character.
Dick and the other minions flock to a confident but not terribly intimidating extraterrestrial robot named Dort (Jesse Eisenberg). His goofy demeanor makes him seem like he’d be an antagonist in poverty row space serial, but he has a knack for taking punishment makes one wonder if he’s the genuine article.
Letting the Minions loose in Hollywood is a bright idea, the management in Tinseltown is just as morally conflicted as Gru, so the setting makes sense. The new characters like Goomi and Dort are intriguing, with the latter being especially endearing because his earnestness wins over everyone, including a likable suffragette (Zoey Deutch).
There are some clever tributes to the silent era, but the movie loses some of its manic Minion energy toward the center. Until Dort stumbles onto the scene, Coffin and co-screenwriter Brian Lynch lose their focus as if they had gotten lost and Dort had to guide them out of a maze.
When I saw this film was coming out, I doubted if the Minions would leave a lasting impact like the silent comics they reference in this installment. It will be a while before we find out.
On a scale of zero to five, “Minions & Monsters” receives ★★★ ½