I saw the new Minions movie yesterday, despite having zero interest in it up until release. Then, the critic scores started coming out, and they were... really good?? 🤯 

And, honestly, I agree with the critics, it's a delightful film! It's definitely a movie that's more rewarding depending on how much you like movies; there's tons of nods and references to early film history, with Minions antics thrown on top. I love studying film history, so they greatly amused me!

But, even if you don't get the references, I think this is one of the most well-constructed Despicable Me films, only under the first one. There's clear forward momentum with a leading main plot (even a main character!) without dozens of subplots bogging down the focus like other Illumination efforts. I can recall Despicable Me 4 and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie suffering from excessive bloat in their narrative and too many characters to juggle, but surprisingly, Minions & Monsters dodges those pitfalls!

There's only one major B plot, and it was genuinely entertaining, getting enough time to be fleshed out and tying in with the big finale well. There's plenty of comedy throughout that had me smiling the entire runtime. Both my wife and I agreed that we got a much better movie than we were expecting going into it.

If you absolutely hate the Minions, then this may not win you over; but, if you're someone like me who was simply tired of their formula, I may actually recommend giving this one a shot. It's the closest they've gotten to making a modern-day Looney Tunes film, probably because they're paying tribute to the era of cinema which birthed slapstick comedy!

Has anyone else seen it? Am I the only one who was shocked how much I liked it? 😆