“Movies are stories that play out right in front of you,” says the wide-eyed Max, the diminutive 1920s-era film director – voiced by Christoph Waltz – in Minions & Monsters. A call to arms, perhaps? Rallying the troops to make sure you come back to the cinema, in the age of streaming, and see a movie on the big screen? Certainly, this latest adventure for the cute, yellow-hued mischief-makers is a lavish love-letter to the movies. It’s also easily the best standalone Minions outing yet.

Directed by Pierre Coffin, who once again voices the Minions’ gibberish dialogue, Minions & Monsters marks the seventh film in what is the biggest animation franchise of all time – with a current box office global gross of $5.6 billion, after four Despicable Me films, where these anarchic sidekicks first appeared, and two spin-off movies, Minions (2015) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), neither of which quite had the same magic.

Beginning with a wraparound tale, a Los Angeles tour guide (Allison Janney) tells her visitors the story of James and Henry, two Minions who changed the world. We flash back to centuries before, as our dungaree-wearing heroes go in search of their next evil master. Pirates, Mummies and a Cyclops all come and go, before – in the early 20th Century – the gang arrive in Hollywoodland, as it was called then, just as the movie business takes off.

It’s here they run into Max, ruining an elaborate train robbery sequence he’s filming. While he’s furious, his bosses at Bright Brothers Pictures, Frank and Elwood (Jeff Bridges, as both) are delighted when they see these agents of chaos. Before long, the Minions are the biggest thing in Hollywood, starring in films like ‘Tiny Barbarians With Chainsaws’, residing in a plush Beverly Hills mansion and peddling their own line of merch (“What will they think of next?”, remarks a newsreel announcer, an amusing nod to the myriad Minions-branded goodies available for real).

A clever plot twist sees the Minions lose their fame and fortune, with the advent of sound in movies, as their gobbledygook chatter isn’t fit for reciting dialogue (echoing the plight of some silent-era Hollywood stars, who found their careers derailed when they had to speak). James and Henry, however, are not to be deterred, with dreams of making their own movie, ‘Minions and Monsters’, a creature feature that get underway when Max presents them with a camera to film with.

From here on, the plot goes a bit bonkers, as the Minions must somehow conjure up a real monster for their movie, with the help of Goomi, a green creature (Trey Parker) straight out of H P Lovecraft that they meet. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang is chasing after Dort (Jesse Eisenberg), a robot (inspired by The Day The Earth Stood Still) who could yet be their next big bad boss. And if that wasn’t enough, Zoey Deutch voices Debbie, a strong-willed Suffragette roped into the story.

Right from the off, the movie references come thick and fast – whether it’s Airplane!, The Matrix or, bizarrely, George Lucas (voiced by the real Star Wars creator himself) stuck inside a glass case, like a living exhibit. And it’s this that will surely please the movie-loving adults in the audience, while younger viewers will surely delight in the Minions’ own brand of insanity.

Arguably, the plot goes sideways when the monsters get involved – including one orange bug-eyed beast that seems inspired by The Blob, the 1958 B-movie starring Steve McQueen. But arriving equipped with a fabulous voice cast (including three Oscar winners, no less), and visual gags aplenty, this is a charming, frequently funny adventure. Make no mistake, there’s still life in the Minions franchise yet.

Minions & Monsters is released in UK cinemas on Wednesday 1 July 2026.

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