MINIONS (7.5 out of 10) Directed by Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin; Written by Brian Lynch; Starring Pierre Coffin as the Minions, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders, Geoffrey Rush, Steve Carell; Rated PG for “action and rude humor.” Running time 91 minutes. Opens July 10 in wide release.
The funniest part of the “Despicable Me” films was the tiny, yellow Minions and their madcap hijinks with explosions and mad science. So it was only a matter of time until we got a Minions movie. Frankly, I’m surprised it took them this long.
This film explains the backstory of the Minions. Just as the trailers have explained, the Minions have always sought out the biggest and baddest creature to serve. They flit from master to master, from prehistoric T-Rex to human history’s most notorious badguys. Until, after a disastrous turn serving Napoleon, the Minions go into self-exile. After a century of listlessness and boredom without someone to serve, three Minions — Kevin, Bob, and Stuart — go on a quest to find a new master.
And hijinks ensure. Arriving in New York in 1968, the Minions end up on a road trip that takes them around the world, including a villain convention in Orlando. This leads them to the employ of Scarlett Overkill (Bullock) and her husband Herb (Hamm) who want to steal the British crown. And. . . this is already too much plot.
Which is really the only problem with this movie. The plot is boring and the pieces that move the story along are far less fun than the wacky gags, action sequences and musical numbers that punctuate the film. Those are hilarious, but this movie would almost work better without a plot and as just a series of short sketches. For the kids in the audience who won’t notice, this will be fine, but some adults may find themselves bored by that. This childlike adult did not.
And while the Despicable Me movies had wonderful soundtracks written by Pharrell Williams (including the first version of “Happy” in Despicable Me 2), Minions has an exclusively classic rock soundtrack: The Kinks, The Who, Donovan, The Spencer Davis Group. It helps ground this as a period piece at the height of what seems like the right time period for serious super-villainy.
The real stars here are the Minions themselves, but some of the other stars of the movie really cement this as fun. Jennifer Saunders almost steals the entire movie playing Queen Elizabeth, and Steve Carrell makes the smallest of cameos at the end of the film to tie it in to the series completely. Unfortunately, both Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm are poorly used and mostly just take up space. Although a “torture” montage with Hamm provides one of the funniest parts of the film, since their characters are the embodiment of that plot which slows the movie down from its madcap, manic ridiculousness, they also weigh the movie down.
One of the big pitfalls of prequels is the need to explain how everything came to be in the first film, rather than just simply deepening characters and the universe. Minions successfully avoids this trap, focusing exclusively on our heroes Bob, Stuart, and Kevin and their adventures. As mentioned, Gru shows up basically as a cameo (and as part of the delightful credits sequence which you absolutely have to stick around and watch)
This is definitely a kids movie. It is dumb, wacky fun. It is nowhere near as deep nor polished as “Inside Out,” but it overshadows all other films this year that pretended to be kids movies and were just dumb. (I’m looking at you, “Home”). Not all adults will enjoy this. Just don’t get too bogged down in the plot. But you could do far worse for a way to to spend some time with your kids… or your inner child. And you won’t have to break out the Kleenex like you do with “Inside Out.”
7.5 out of 10