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Minions & Monsters, Illumination's latest flick starring the yellow, pill-shaped henchmen, has generated a ton of chatter online. Despite being praised for its "creative glee" and "surprisingly sophisticated" story, the film has drawn backlash from a specific demographic: parents.
The animated film, which hit theaters on July 1 and has been rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for "violence/action, language and rude/macabre humor," was among the most anticipated debuts of the summer. It opened at No. 1 domestically over the Fourth of July weekend but fell short of box office projections, marking the lowest domestic debut for a film in the Despicable Me universe.
The Despicable Me franchise has become synonymous with lighthearted family fun, but some parents are cautioning others against watching Minions & Monsters due to one particular gripe: They believe the film is pushing a satanic agenda. What about the film is causing satanic panic? Is the backlash warranted, or is it an overreaction?
Below, Yahoo breaks down everything there is to know about the devilish, Minions & Monsters controversy. But first, a warning: Spoilers ahead!
Set in 1927, 41 years prior to the events of 2015's Despicable Me, Minions & Monsters follows a group of minions as they navigate fame in old Hollywood. The beloved henchmen (voiced by Pierre Coffin) accidentally become silent-movie stars in Hollywood before losing their fame with the rise of the talkies. (They speak only Minionese, after all!) Having fallen in love with moviemaking and desperate to recapture their early success and lavish lifestyles, two minions, James and Henry, decide to create their very own monster movie.
Using a book of spells taken from an evil sorcerer they used to work for, the minions resort to witchcraft to summon ferocious monsters for the flick. But not everything goes according to plan, and before they know it, James and Henry and their fellow Minions must band together to save the world from the dangerous entities they summoned.
Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan and Phil LaMarr are also among the film's star-studded voice cast. (You can read Yahoo film critic Brett Arnold's review here.)
There is one scene that is drawing significant backlash. Minions & Monsters is heavily influenced by American writer H.P. Lovecraft, who pioneered the cosmic horror genre also known as Lovecraftian horror. In an effort to summon Cthulhu — a terrifying, dragon-like, tentacled creature — for their movie, the minions read from the Necronomicon, a forbidden spellbook created by Lovecraft for his Cthulhu Mythos.
The Cthulhu Mythos is a fictional universe conceived by Lovecraft, in which godlike ancient alien entities exist, awaiting the day they can reclaim Earth. When the incantation goes awry, the Minions accidentally bring forth a very small and very cute green monster named Goomi.
Complaints are rampant online, where displeased parents are deeming the film as demonic and unsuitable for children.
In the True Christian subreddit, one user created a post titled, "Please don't take your kids to see the new minions movie." After watching the Minions "perform a ritual and summon a literal demon," the user felt compelled to warn other parents.
"I couldn't believe how overt it was," the user wrote. "Usually films have subliminal message or hint at dark things but this was some of the most overtly dark things I've seen in a kids film."
The discussion was alive and well on X, where users, including Sabrina Ferrari, wrote, "Don't take your children to watch the new Minions movie. The film brings together invocations of demons, sexual [perversion], and satanic symbols/seals. All of this in a movie made to corrupt your children from an early age."
"This is straight up satanic," a woman named Tailah Scroggins said in a video she shared on Facebook. "[Minions & Monsters is] desensitizing our kids to witchcraft and the occult, just like so many other movies and TV shows out there. … You can make a fantastic movie without all of those demonic supernatural themes."
A Christian influencer who goes by Holy House Wife on Instagram argued that the film is being "packaged as comedy" despite what she calls its "demonic" agenda.
"Something that used to be clearly dark, strange, or occult-adjacent is now softened with jokes, cute characters, and 'family fun' marketing," she wrote. "Parents need to pay attention. Not everything animated is innocent. Not everything funny is harmless. And not every 'kids movie' is spiritually neutral."
A mother named Paola Karolina shared a scene from the film while watching it in theaters with her child, and she captioned it: "Maybe I'm wrong … but this scene didn't sit right with me."
Not every viewer has been critical of the messaging in Minions & Monsters. In the comments of videos from social media users like Paola Karolina, some users are coming to the film's defense — and are telling parents to, well, relax.
"Everybody on this video sounds exactly like how I imagine what it was like during the Satanic Panic, a bunch of people making up nonsense ????," one user commented.
"Why is everyone upset about witchcraft ???? they aren't teaching anyone how to do real witch stuff. It's a fun depiction. You can enjoy the spectacle of it and have it be separate from reality," added another. "I'm a Christian and I still love watching stuff about witches and sorcery and dark rituals. Doesn't mean me or my kids will paint a pentagram on the floor and start summoning demons. It's all good."
"I saw some lady on tiktok say the new minions movie is work of the devil and you shouldn't watch it," an X user wrote. "We actually cannot be serious."
A user named Jasmine, who goes by the TikTok handle @cinecultured, also pointed out that featuring "monsters, demons, witches and other supernatural creatures" for animated family films isn't exactly new.
"Monster House, Coraline, Paranorman or Hotel Transylvania, they all played with this scary imagery without ever endorsing it," she said. "I think there's a really interesting conversation here because some people are watching it and seeing fantasy, while others are seeing spiritual symbolism. Neither one is watching the same movie. … Audiences don't just watch movies. They bring their own beliefs, experiences and values into the theater with them."
