The Minions go to the movies — or rather, make movies — in Minions and Monsters, the latest instalment in the Minions movies that offsets every Despicable Me release.

With most of the storylines running dry — we have seen the origins, and then the family lives of Gru, their bald, evil leader — there is little we’ve not seen the bullet-shaped, yellow, indestructible creatures mess up. But then, there’s always one last source to tap: Hollywood.

Often, that route yields predictable results. But not here. At least not totally.

What little is left to explore in the story gets an entertaining counterbalance thanks to a zany pace. During a tour of a film history museum, the tour guide, Olivia H., (Allison Janney) tells the students about the greatest film ever made in Hollywood that time forgot: a film made by the Minions.

Minions and Monsters sends the mischievous yellow creatures to Hollywood for a fast-paced adventure packed with slapstick, movie references and the comic genius of writer and director Pierre Coffin

Revving up a flashback, we go through the usual routines. Thousands of years ago, the Minions were forever looking for the perfect ‘Big Boss’ villains to serve. The usual happens. Their bosses — this time, a Cyclops in ancient Greece and a warlock later — find their help more dangerous than any human retaliation.

In their midst are three main Minions: James, who likes sketching adventure stories, his bestie Henry and Ed, who communicates via sign language because he is deaf. Their aptly named leader is Dick, who is a stickler for conventions — namely, finding and serving their new evil Big Boss.

The four, and their 100 or so buddies, find themselves in the midst of a train robbery, which turns out to be a movie scene and one can spot a few homages to Buster Keaton’s classic gags in the sequence.

The studio bosses, Frank and Elwood Bright (both voiced by Jeff Bridges), like the madcap chaos Minions bring to their scenes, and task their in-house director Max (Christoph Waltz) to make them the next big name in Hollywood. Until, that is, the advent of sound.

James, Henry and Ed, separating from the group, resolve to make their own movie — a big-budget monster epic — with the help of Cthulhu (Trey Parker), a small fictional cosmic entity named Goomi. They leave for a far-off island where two giant monsters (Phil LaMarr, Bobby Moynihan) are imprisoned.

A separate story track introduces Dort (Jesse Eisenberg), an alien in a robot suit — a homage to Gort from the science fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) — who lives in Hollywood, waiting for his day to invade Earth. Dort’s plans go haywire when he meets Debbie (Zoey Deutch), a suffragette from a small town in Minnesota, and the two fall in love.

The big-name actors don’t mean much here. Actually, one may be hard-pressed to distinguish celebrities from regular voice actors. The real stars here, like always, are the Minions who are voiced by co-writer and director Pierre Coffin.

Coffin co-directed the first three Despicable Me movies and the first Minions movie. His grasp on the pace makes this thoroughly silly kiddie movie fun enough for adults.

Released by Universal and HKC, Minions and Monsters is rated ‘U’ (Universal). Despite glorifying villains, this is one of the safest children’s movie franchises in the world for ages four and above

The writer is one of Icon’s film reviewers

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 2nd, 2026