Movie Review: Minions
Jul 10, 2015 11:01AM ● By Davis Johnson
They consistently stole the spotlight in both Despicable Me and its sequel, Despicable Me 2, the yellow, pill-shaped minions are back in their own feature film, aptly dubbed Minions. It’s a tale of life before Gru.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
The film starts off with a montage of how the Minions went from single-celled organisms to the lovable, yet chaotic creatures people know and love. Their whole sense of purpose revolves around serving the biggest, baddest villain out there. They love they’re job, just one problem; they consistently mess it up through a slew of accidents. As a scene in the montage of previous leaders suggests, the Minions were Napoleon’s downfall and not the Russians. After their most recent failure, they hid away in an icy cavern where they were happy for a time. As the years passed though, they had no purpose and became eerily depressed.
Fed up with the situation, a brave Minion named Kevin decides to go out into the world to find their next boss, but needs help. The ukulele playing Stuart is tricked into going and the young, but determined, Bob goes as well due to no one else wanting to. The trio travel from their frigid home all the way to the U.S. where they are quickly enthralled by the fast paced, 1960’s lifestyle. By complete chance they stumble upon Villain-Con, a convention where all the baddest villains gather to showcase their talents. It’s there where they find Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), the world’s first female super-villain. They managed to gain employment with her and are flown back to her headquarters where they meet her evil genius husband, Herb Overkill (Jon Hamm).
In order to gain employment for the rest of their friends, Kevin, Stuart and Bob are tasked with stealing Queen Elizabeth’s crown (Jennifer Saunders). Just like with their past employers, the Minions manage to mess it up when Bob accidentally stumbles upon power and becomes the new King of England. An irate Scarlet seeks revenge and the Minion’s must find a way to prevent certain doom.
Minions manages to capture the nostalgia of the franchise’s previous films, but still make it have its own story. Directors Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin (who also plays the Minions) do a fantastic job of bringing Brian Lynch's screenplay to life. It’s filled with juvenile and slapstick humor that mostly lands with the audience, granted some of the moments do fall flat. In it’s entirety the movie is a riot with scenes like the Minions playing polo while riding corgis, Herb’s over the top reactions, and the overall gibberish that makes up the Minion’s language (it’s a combination of French, Spanish, Italian, and pure nonsense). The plot itself is fairly straightforward and ends with a fantastic guest appearance.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
The film starts off with a montage of how the Minions went from single-celled organisms to the lovable, yet chaotic creatures people know and love. Their whole sense of purpose revolves around serving the biggest, baddest villain out there. They love they’re job, just one problem; they consistently mess it up through a slew of accidents. As a scene in the montage of previous leaders suggests, the Minions were Napoleon’s downfall and not the Russians. After their most recent failure, they hid away in an icy cavern where they were happy for a time. As the years passed though, they had no purpose and became eerily depressed.
Fed up with the situation, a brave Minion named Kevin decides to go out into the world to find their next boss, but needs help. The ukulele playing Stuart is tricked into going and the young, but determined, Bob goes as well due to no one else wanting to. The trio travel from their frigid home all the way to the U.S. where they are quickly enthralled by the fast paced, 1960’s lifestyle. By complete chance they stumble upon Villain-Con, a convention where all the baddest villains gather to showcase their talents. It’s there where they find Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), the world’s first female super-villain. They managed to gain employment with her and are flown back to her headquarters where they meet her evil genius husband, Herb Overkill (Jon Hamm).
In order to gain employment for the rest of their friends, Kevin, Stuart and Bob are tasked with stealing Queen Elizabeth’s crown (Jennifer Saunders). Just like with their past employers, the Minions manage to mess it up when Bob accidentally stumbles upon power and becomes the new King of England. An irate Scarlet seeks revenge and the Minion’s must find a way to prevent certain doom.
Minions manages to capture the nostalgia of the franchise’s previous films, but still make it have its own story. Directors Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin (who also plays the Minions) do a fantastic job of bringing Brian Lynch's screenplay to life. It’s filled with juvenile and slapstick humor that mostly lands with the audience, granted some of the moments do fall flat. In it’s entirety the movie is a riot with scenes like the Minions playing polo while riding corgis, Herb’s over the top reactions, and the overall gibberish that makes up the Minion’s language (it’s a combination of French, Spanish, Italian, and pure nonsense). The plot itself is fairly straightforward and ends with a fantastic guest appearance.