The first Despicable Me movie premiered back in 2010, and ever since then Gru and (perhaps more importantly) the Minions have become mainstays of popular culture. I have to admit that I haven't really been a fan of the Illumination franchise, although I do love what the studio did with the Super Mario Bros. movies. Still, when Minions & Monsters arrived on streaming with a Peacock subscription, I tuned in at the behest of my fiancé. And I was shocked by how much I truly enjoyed this latest installment of the animated franchise.
Minions & Monsters reviews were rather positive upon the movie's release, and it's currently sitting at an impressive 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. I had to judge for myself, and I'll admit that those little yellow guys and their lines in Minionese did crack me up. Although I was even more impressed by how the animated family film was connected to the greater moviemaking industry.
Minions and Monsters Is A Love Letter To Movies
Rather than showing the Minions serving Gru, the new movie provide provided them with an origin story. The audience learns that a tribe of the yellow creatures dated back thousands of years ago. We watch as they accidentally kill various evil bosses they have through the years, until eventually the stumble on a bank robbery.
After trying to pledge their loyalty to the robber, both the Minions (and myself) are shocked to learn that they were actually on a film set and the bank heist was nothing but a scene. The studio ends up hiring the Minions (particularly James) when two execs find them amusing, starting an entire career in both silent and talkie films. This is when I really fell in love with Minions & Monsters, which ended up being a love letter to Hollywood.
Some movie lovers wish they had Minions & Monsters as a kid, thanks to how surprisingly rich it was regarding movie history. Indeed, the movie's brisk 90-minute runtime had plenty of great references to classic films. First we're shown a movie museum, where there are nods to The Matrix and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. George Lucas himself even gets a cameo, although I was waiting for some Star Wars jokes that never happened. Throughout the story we also get references to silent films like like 1878's The Horse in Motion (which was also included in Jordan Peele's Nope), as well as 1896's Train Pulling Into a Station.
When the Minions are working for a Wizard he clearly resembles a similar character from Disney's Fantasia. And once we go from silent films to talkies, one can't help but think about Singin' in the Rain. There's also a shot for shot remake of a scene from Citizen Kane, as well as a hilarious "play it again" reference from Casablanca. There are even nods to modern movies like Damien Chazelle's 2022 flick Babylon. That's just a handful of the movie references packed into Minions & Monsters.
Minions & Monsters is streaming now on Peacock as part of the 2026 movie release list. It's more than possible that the next movie in the Despicable Me franchise won't thrill me like this title did, but I'm definitely more invested in the property than ever before.
