Review: 'Minions & Monsters' run the little yellow creatures through old Hollywood, and a wealth of chaotically energetic humor

It’s been 16 years since Illumination Entertainment debuted with the villain-turned-good comedy “Despicable Me,” and it’s been at least two movies since any entry in the franchise have been worth anyone other than shareholders to take notice.

It’s a nice surprise to say that “Minions & Monsters,” the seventh movie featuring the goggle-eyed pill-shaped comical creatures, is the best movie in the series since the first “Despicable Me.” That’s admittedly a low bar, but the new movie wins for leaning into the joyous anarchy of the little Minions, and the hilarious and loving riffs on Hollywood history.

Minions, we’re told by a perky Hollywood museum tour guide (voiced by Allison Janney, our narrator), are responsible for much of movie history. Well, two Minions — James and Henry — who find the regular life of their tribe, finding an evil boss to serve, isn’t as fun as telling stories. When the Minions accidentally crash a movie set, they are found by a desperate director, Max (voiced by Christoph Waltz), who discovers the little guys make good movie extras.

What follows are a series of energetic gags that show the Minions inserted into classic silent movie scenes, alongside the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. Will the children in Illumination’s target audience recognize the references? Probably not, but it’s thrilling to think this will introduce them to some of the classic silent images.

The twist in the script — by Brian Lynch and Pierre Coffin, the movie’s director (and the voice of all the Minions) — comes with the advent of sound, because the Minions’ gibberish voices don’t fit in the talkies. James dreams of making an epic monster movie, and uses a spell book picked up earlier in the movie, summons a tiny Cthulhu-like creature, Goomi (voiced by Trey Parker), to help make it happen. 

From the midpoint to the end, “Minions & Monsters” remains just as frenetic as the first half, but not quite as funny. The jokes about old Hollywood make the Minions the comic legends the other movies in the franchise failed to convince us they were.

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‘Minions & Monsters’

★★★

Opens Wednesday, July 1, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for violence/action, language and rude/macabre behavior. Running time: 90 minutes.