Displaying items by tag: Alison Janney

MINIONS & MONSTERS

US, 2026, 90 minutes, Colour.

Voices of: Pierre Coffin, Alison Janney, Christophe Waltz, Zoe Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Phil LaMarr, George Lucas, Trey Parker.

Directed by Pierre Coffin, Patrick Delage.

We have been living with the Minions, enjoying their mischievous company, since Despicable Me in 2010. With their size, yellow colour, one or two eyes, their distinctive language and chatter, their willingness to serve diabolical masters like Gru, audiences now have expectations of them, enjoying when they turn up in the movies (and in a range of commercials!).

The children’s audience will enjoy all the shenanigans here, the origin story of this group of minions, setting sail, settling in different lands, the various tyrants that they served, and, of all things, their finally arriving in the American West, pursuing a bandit and a train, discovering that it actually was being filmed. They are in Hollywood in the 1920s.

For the adult audience, especially movie fans, there are all kinds of references to early movies, experiments by Edward Muybridge, the Lumiere Bros, George Belies and the moon, and jokes recreating Charlie Chaplin in the cogs sequence in Modern Times, Harold Lloyd on his ladder in Safety Last, and glimpses of Buster Keaton, references to Citizen Kane, Hooray for Hollywood, We’re in the Money…  and, the contemporary Hollywood Museum which has George Lucas himself. an exhibit in a glass case, asking to be released from his contract! In fact, this Minions film is really an homage to the movies and, especially to Hollywood in the 1920s, styles of filmmaking, the studio moguls, the directors, camerawork, introduction of sound, awards.

The main characters are the artistic James and his affable friend, Henry, and the good-natured Ed. In Hollywood, they do get a chance to make a movie – but, with the book of spells and their reading them out loud, strange creatures emerge. The culmination of the film is a kind of big gooey Godzilla equivalent, destroying LA in its path. Which means some kind of heroics, the massing together of the minions (which often happens throughout the film from early rowing in prehistoric boats to crowding on vehicles in Los Angeles and, incidentally, breaking the Hollywoodland sign).

A glance at the cast list shows that there is very strong voice talent.

All’s well that ends well, everybody happy with James’s movie, screening at the Chinese theatre, applause, awards, and, at last during the final credits, some upstaging of Gru. So, where to next!  And soon!!