'Minions & Monsters' is a Valuable Film History Course for Kids

"Poop" - Charles Foster Minion It's hard to believe it's only been 16 years since the world was introduced to the minions, where they soon joined "The Simpsons" and "SpongeBob SquarePants" as the next in a line of pop culture icons composed of yellow morons making silly sounds. In an era where Disney and Warner Bros. bafflingly refuse to recognize their cartoon mascots, Illumination have been proudly putting the little denim-wearing troublemakers in front of all their films since their first feature "Despicable Me." They possess a strange universal appeal that's a result of their easily identifiable slapstick sensibilities and minionese prose, which itself is made up of gibberish and a little of every world language. The movies that the minions star in, however, are limited to a much younger demographic. The "Despicable Me" series have comfortably taken their place as babysitter movies, as they're largely low-risk kids entertainment with enough colors and loud noises to keep the little ones busy. The 2015 "Minions" spin-off movie is the closest I've come to actually enjoying one of these, largely because they're distanced from their one-note former supervillain master Gru (Steve Carell). It proved that these pill-shaped servants of evil work much better when they're getting into mischief on their own terms. The series' latest film "Minions & Monsters" greatly expands upon their place as contemporary clowns by showcasing them alongside the screen clowns of the silent era and, in turn, results in Illumination's best film by a mile. "Minions & Monsters" wisely eschews any baggage of the previous "Despicable Me" movies by starting with a clean slate. The framing device takes place in the modern day, with Allison Janney's tour guide taking a group through a film history museum. The place is loaded with visual references of everything from "Metropolis" to "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial." A gag like the actual George Lucas being entombed in a glass case is matched by the "if you know, you know" laugh that comes with the tour guide doing the inflatable globe bit from "The Great Dictator." Right off the bat, this presents itself as a movie lover's paradise that will expand upon that idea even more once we meet up with our group of minions (all of whom are voiced, impressively so, by the film's director Pierre Coffin). It turns out there was another group of minions who were also traveling the globe looking for the best villains to serve, only to hilariously be the direct causes of their deaths. Among the group is James, a minion whose penchant for creativity in the arts makes him somewhat of a pariah. Henry the minion, however, finds him endearing, and the two become close. Just when it seems like they can't find a new master, the minions are enraptured by what looks like a cowboy running from the law with overflowing sacks of cash. They come to learn that they've arrived in 1920s Hollywood, with their potential big boss being an actor. How delightful that they find this out after a surprisingly exciting action sequence that simultaneously pays tribute to Edwin S. Porter's "The Great Train Robbery," Charles Tait's "The Story of the Kelly Gang," and the Keystone Cops. John Powell's whimsical, adventure-driven score only makes it that much more exciting. "Minions & Monsters" envisions an alternate reality where the little yellow guys are directly responsible for some of the most iconic gags from the comedies of Charlie Chaplin ("Modern Times"), Harold Lloyd ("Safety Last!"), and Buster Keaton ("Steamboat Bill, Jr."). It helps that Coffin and co-screenwriter Brian Lynch imbue their loving nods with actual jokes. Akin to their real-life rise to fame, the minions soon become mega stars of the silver screen. The advent of sound a la "Singin' in the Rain," however, makes it difficult for them to be convincing vocal performers. But James isn't content on giving up his newfound creative passion quite that easily. In many respects, "Minions & Monsters" feels like the movie Coffin has always wanted to make regarding his co-creations. There's such an infectious buoyancy that translates not just with the gags, but the minions as ambassadors of cinema itself. Even pioneers like Eadweard Muybridge, the Lumière Brothers, and George Méliès couldn't resist capturing these little guys. This movie will undoubtedly be the first time younger audiences will be introduced to these iconic images of cinema's earliest works. It acts as a pseudo-intro film history course, and that's pretty valuable. In spite of "Minions & Monsters" taking place in the 1920s, Coffin takes a more anachronistic approach to the type of movies that are touched upon. Who knew that the early days of the talkies led to "The Maltese Falcon" or "Citizen Kane" (which itself leads to the film's best joke)? There's even a direct recreation of the "play it again, Sam" moment from "Casabalanca." While the film's weaker second half pushes the focus on the monster mayhem, it still stays true to its whole by paying tribute to the science-fiction/monster movies of the 1950s like "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "The Blob," among others. All this reminded me of when I first learned about "Nosferatu" because of an episode of "SpongeBob" that utilized a clip of the 1922 silent horror film as the closing joke. The image of Max Schreck flipping the light switch stuck with me even though I had no idea what it meant. I imagine a lot of children watching "Minions & Monsters" will have the same experience in not knowing why adults are laughing at an homage to "A Trip to the Moon," and yet the image of a rocket crash landing in a minion's eye will likely stay with them. It occupies the place that cartoons like "Animaniacs" used to have by sparking curiosity in the upcoming generations. Martin Scorsese's criminally underseen fantasy drama "Hugo" also serves a similar purpose with its place as an intro to Méliès course for children. "Minions & Monsters" playfully depicts a purposefully cartoonish unreality where a single camera can simultaneously shoot from multiple angles. But at the same time, it also takes pride in showing that movies are made by teams of people putting in the work by hand. I never would have imagined I would see a minion using a film splicer. Shooting on film may not be a common industry practice anymore, but depicting loads of people from diverse backgrounds physically carrying reels from person to person feels like an important image for kids to see, especially with the rise of generative AI's disturbing stronghold. Even James understands how important it is to properly light your set, a task that seems unbecoming of plenty of contemporary productions that would rather immerse themselves in textureless greys and garish backlighting. Never did I expect to be won over by a minions movie, yet "Minions & Monsters" utterly charmed me. There's a non-zero chance that, one day, a kid will seek out "Modern Times" because they saw the minions push Chaplin into the gears, and as silly as it sounds, that's important. "Minions & Monsters" is now playing in theaters nationwide.