Dizzying Hollywood trip
Published 2026-07-01 14.00
Minions & monsters
Directed by Pierre Coffin, with original voices by Pierre Coffin, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges. Swedish voices of Ellen BergströmJoakim Jennefors, Anton Olofson Raeder.
MOVIE REVIEW. Did you know that Hollywood would have been nothing without the minions?
It is the starting point of a film that both embraces the total chaos of the yellow little ones and tries to charm a more grown-up audience.
ANIMATED COMEDY. The summer of 2026 will be largely dominated by two animated blockbusters.
One is, of course “Toy Story 5”but even before the new “Minions” film has premiered, it is easy to count it as a monster hit as well. The first two films were such enormous successes that a failure can only happen if all parents in a global conspiracy manage to keep it a secret from their children that there will be a new “Minions” film.
They are a phenomenon, the chattering characters whose whole being is to be super villains at will. They were introduced in “Dumma me” (2010) where they were the henchmen of the admittedly sneaky but also evil Gru. A fun spice in a fast-paced film for children.
Got its own movie series
The minions would go on to assist Gru in three more films – but they also became so popular that they got their own film series, starting in 2015.
Anyone who wants to be picky, and not just a cheerleader (and so it is with film critics), soon realized that there was a problem with the spinoff films in particular, no matter how much the kids loved them.
In “Dumma mej”, the minions could lift individual scenes by being irresistibly silly. But when they started to dominate entire films, it became like eating princess cake for starter, dinner and dessert in 90 minutes. You were full. Exhausted.
Not to mention deaf. After every “Minions” movie, you need some alone time. Preferably in a padded room.
The films have several themes and common threads that also return in this third chapter. It always comes down to the minions needing to find a new supervillain to work for. The films jump wildly between different eras to show that the minions have always been among us. And the humor is a wild mix between childish banter and grown-up jokes rooted in ages that existed long before the young audience’s parents were even thought of.
The third film digs back into Hollywood’s childhood for a story where two oddly clumsy minions, Henry and James, become the reason the characters change movie history.
Obvious flirtation with film
There is something very predictable in the fact that the film has received really good reviews in the US. It’s such an obvious flirtation with film as a medium, made by people who love Hollywood history and have filled the film with references to old silent film classics. How can you, as a reviewer, not love it?
If I am to assess it soberly and not just sit and tick off more blinks Buster Keaton“Modern Times” and Harold LloydI still have to state that it is made with so much love and in some sequences enormous creativity and speed that it is dizzying.
Therein lies the subtlety. Script-wise, it’s not as careful. Much is routine in the second half. One moment the film portrays the fight for women’s suffrage, the next the arrival of the sound film, as if these historical events happened at the same time.
The monsters then? Well, they appear in the second half of the film and have their moments, although I would have preferred Universal to use their classic movie monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein, the mummy), which they still have the rights to. Now that the movie is set in Hollywood.
But on the whole: Funniest and prettiest film in the series. It is the plate in the carpet that counts, with sweets for both young and old.
Shown in cinemas.
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