Minions & Monsters Rewinds to Old Hollywood Magic

On the opening night of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Illumination’s “Minions & Monsters” debuted with a love letter to cinema’s golden era—complete with playful nods to classics, a surprise turn toward the unknown, and an unexpectedly hear

The opening night at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival had the usual festival energy: an awards ceremony, a brief cameo by Guillermo del Toro, and then a moment that landed like a spark—del Toro shouting, without a microphone, “F–k AI!”

Then Illumination’s “Minions & Monsters” arrived for its world premiere. and it felt like the right kind of hometown hero story. Illumination’s animation studio is in Paris. and Annecy is as close as the festival comes to hometown vibes for the studio. But the movie earned its placement too. Once you watched it. you could see why this title—bright. funny. and oddly sincere—was made for a crowd that loves animation not just as entertainment. but as craft and culture.

The film’s story kicks off with a framing device built around a tour guide escorting a group of film fans through something that reads as an exhibit. a museum. or a backlot tour—“it’s a little unclear. ” the presentation leaves the edges intentionally fuzzy. The group finds itself facing a statue of two minions, James and Henry.

These minions should be familiar to anyone steeped in the franchise. In the 16 years since the first “Despicable Me” burst onto the screen. the minions have been codified and cloned—turning into a major consumer-product machine. showing up in Universal theme parks around the world. and spawning their own spinoff film franchise. But James and Henry are different. The tour group knows minions in general, yet admits it has “never heard of them.”.

That’s how the movie introduces Henry and James. plus a bunch of other minions who. like many minions at the beginning of time. aren’t particularly great at finding an evil overlord to worship. Instead of conquering, they’re prone to accidentally murdering their villains. After a mishap involving a cowboy film, the duo winds up in Hollywood.

At first, Hollywood treats them like sensations. They’re swooned over by a pair of overweight studio heads. voiced by Jeff Bridges. and a bullish director. voiced by Christoph Waltz. But soon they strike out on their own. James. the film insists. is a true artist with “the soul of a poet”—and if you accidentally mix him up with Henry. the movie suggests that may be “probably OK. ” too.

“Minions & Monsters” doesn’t just feel like a sequel to an established franchise. It’s also a film of two halves. The first half leans into an oddly reverential celebration of Old Hollywood: early silent comedians are an obvious influence. but the movie reaches farther. nodding to “Citizen Kane” (which brings one of the night’s biggest laughs). “Casablanca. ” and even drive-in sci-fi cheapies. The fake title “They Came From the Stars to Hit You With a Frying Pan” lands like an affectionate wink.

There’s also a stretch that addresses the transition from silent films to talkies through a bit that “cribs from ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’” and a party sequence that owes a debt to Damien Chazelle’s more recent “Babylon,” the one that found similar pleasures in early Hollywood debauchery.

The film’s engagement with cinema history is so physical it almost becomes part of the plot. It opens with the modern Universal logo, then rewinds to the studio’s 1920s logo. Even the Illumination logo shifts into a rubber-hose style where the studio’s flagship characters—the minions—are visibly part of the visual rhythm. You can feel the studio pointing to animation’s roots the way classic cartoons did. right down to the vibe of hanging out beside Steamboat Willie. An opening title sequence splices the minions into actual classic films. including a what-if scenario that imagines what they would look like in Georges Méliès’ 1902 breakthrough “A Trip to the Moon.”.

The second half turns less into a museum of movie history and more into a story that keeps changing its mind about where it’s headed. The movie shifts into more familiar “Minionland” territory at about the midway point. with the minions summoning an evil blob demon with a bunch of eyes and then scrambling to figure out how to defeat it. Big things crashing into buildings is a staple of the franchise. and the movie seems aware of that pull—like Pierre Coffin is nudging the audience forward while fighting the urge to just do more of the same.

Coffin directs “Minions & Monsters” and also voices the minions. He’s been involved since the first “Despicable Me. ” directing the first three films in the main franchise as well as the first “Minions” film. The film’s playful confidence suggests he knows exactly what works and what doesn’t—so when it threatens to drift into a predictable groove. it finds a new way to move.

Even when the movie feels like something you might have seen before, the heart of it keeps shining through. It’s loaded with enough curveballs to keep you entertained. including a side plot about the minions following a guy dressed as a B-movie robot—voiced by Jesse Eisenberg—and the presence of Trey Parker’s Lovecraftian ghoulie. Goomi. which the film makes room for as a surprisingly cute character.

By the time “Minions & Monsters” builds to its finale, the punchline is more emotional than expected. The movie ends as an open-hearted tribute to the power of the communal moviegoing experience—unexpectedly moving. and giving the franchise a shot at its best shape. perhaps since the very first “Despicable Me.” The effect lands because the characters feel elastic rather than fixed in place. That flexibility lets the story stretch beyond merchandise and theme park attractions and still have resonance.

The premiere at Annecy set the tone: a crowd celebrating animation as culture, not just content. “Minions & Monsters” matched that mindset with a film that knows how to laugh. knows how to reference the movies that came before it. and somehow still finds room for genuine feeling. Purely enjoyable in a big, big way—who’d have thought?.

Minions & Monsters Annecy International Animation Film Festival Illumination Guillermo del Toro Old Hollywood Pierre Coffin Jeff Bridges Christoph Waltz Jesse Eisenberg Trey Parker Goomi Despicable Me