'Minions & Monsters' earns highest Rotten Tomatoes score in 'Despicable Me' franchise

Minions & Monsters has become the highest-rated film in the Despicable Me franchise on Rotten Tomatoes, achieving the strongest critics' score of any entry in the series.

The latest Illumination animated feature holds an 89% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes based on early reviews.

According to the review aggregation platform, the score surpasses every previous film across the seven-movie franchise. The film opened in cinemas on July 1 2026.

The previous highest-rated entry was 2010's Despicable Me, which holds a Certified Fresh score of 80%.

Despicable Me 2 followed with a 75% rating, while Minions: The Rise of Gru earned 70%.

Elsewhere in the series, Despicable Me 3 received 58%, Despicable Me 4 stands at 56%, and the original Minions spin-off holds a 55% score on the platform.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus describes Minions & Monsters as the "franchise's most roundly enjoyable entry yet." The site also calls it "an affectionate and charming sendup of moviemaking magic."

Pierre Coffin directed the 90-minute animated feature and also co-wrote the screenplay with Brian Lynch.

The voice cast includes Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg and Zoey Deutch. The film was produced by Christopher Meledandri and Bill Ryan, with Universal Pictures serving as distributor.

Several critics also praised the film in individual reviews. Clint Worthington of RogerEbert.com awarded it 3.5 out of four stars, while Drew Taylor of TheWrap wrote that Minions & Monsters "could be the best in the franchise, perhaps since the very first Despicable Me."

Odie Henderson of the Boston Globe also gave the film three out of four stars, noting that its "90-minute runtime is also a big plus."