The most film buff minions separate themselves from Gru's shadow

After the success of the Minions' appearances in Gru, my favorite villain, and the consequent proliferation of associated merchandise, the rent-seeking Hollywood opted to generate derivative works to cash in on the trend. It didn't seem easy to fill a feature film starring these clumsy agents of chaos with limited rhetoric, but the challenge has been met now that Gru's adventures are already showing signs of exhaustion. In fact, Minions & Monsters can compete to be considered the best film in the cinematic universe to which it belongs.

The film's creators have found a remarkable balance between the boisterous comedy of the minions and a more structured narrative that branches into a couple of converging plots. The youngest will find the longed-for presence of yellow creatures, and those who are a bit or much older can follow innocent stories of love and creative vocations, accompanied by many, many cinephile references. On this occasion, it looks back further than the eighties and nineties of the last century and builds bridges with the physical humor of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. It also pays homage to the horrors of early sound cinema, although Dracula and company are left aside, and the focus is on beings capable of destroying cities in a final, more routine stretch of narrative than the historical comedy that precedes it. Perhaps these giant monsters fit better with this animated cinema mainstream that introduces the young audience to the conventions of more or less fantastic action shows with large-scale confrontations and destruction. Minions & Monsters also complies in this area, with crazy chases and the inevitable final battle, while including some playful outreach and reminding us that part of cinema has always been about big kids who want to make things collide.

You can consult the screenings in Catalan at this link.