Les Minions

Quickie Review:

Minions from the dawn of time have always searched to serve the most despicable masters in the world. After failing to keep their masters numerous times, the minions feel without purpose. That's when three brave minions, Kevin, Bob, and Stuart set out on a journey to find their new master. Despicable Me franchise has done a lot of things right, one of which that clicked with all ages were the adorable little minions. This film could've been very basic, continuously rehashing a collection slapstick comedy, and just simply depend on the popularity of the minions. Instead, the creators of this film added heart to the characters, delivering a movie that kids will love and adults will have fun with.

Full Review:

As much as I love the minions in the Despicable Me movies, I was quite pessimistic on how good Minions was going to be. It just felt like a cash grab. Of course, all movies aim to grab some cash but this movie in particular felt like the studio was just capitalising on the popularity of the characters. Gratefully, the movie got me to set aside my pessimism.

One of my biggest concerns was whether a collection of side characters can really carry an entire movie. Short answer as it turns out: yes they can. It works because we are focusing on just three minions for the majority of the movie. Each of them have their unique personality that shines through without a single word of comprehensible dialogue. That in itself is an amazing feat, the minion-gibberish is all non-sense and yet I am able to empathise with them. I can't even say the same for actual human actors in other movies sometimes! So in that sense, job well done animators. I also liked the small story arc that was given to the villain of the movie, Scarlett Overkill (Sandra Bullock). She wasn't a villain just for the sake of it, which added another dimension to what could have been a generic character. There is relatable back story to her that made us understand where she was coming from, while still retaining the unpredictable evil-ness.

The movie is not without flaws. There are times where the jokes might be too slapstick for adults to enjoy. These scenes are obviously aimed for the kids. They don't completely alienate us grown-ups but it is still noticeable. On top of that, I have to say I felt the absence of Gru and the kids from the Despicable Me movies. What I love about the minions is their relationship with Gru's family, the pranks, the shenanigans, the care they have for each other, is all so delightful to watch. This absence was bound to happen since we are concentrating on the minions. At the same time, aside from Scarlett Overkill there are no other memorable supporting characters.

Even with the problems, I really did enjoy my time watching Minions. It was a great light hearted, charming, fun movie. If you have little kids, nephews or nieces, don't hesitate to take them to the cinema. They will have an awesome time. Together you too will find some amusing entertainment.

In 2010, Illumination Entertainment released its first animated feature film, "Despicable Me", about an evil genius named Gru who was struggling to stay on top of the evil genius business, with the help of his pint-sized henchmen known as minions. That film made over $250 million in the U.S. alone (almost quadruple what it cost), so, naturally, there was a sequel. In 2013, "Despicable Me 2" made over $368 million domestically and was rated by audiences as even better than the original. The minions were a small big reason for all that. They were a hit in the first film and they played a larger role in the second film, which performed even better than the first, so, naturally, they got a movie of their own.

The minions are child-sized, yellow, pill-shaped creatures whose sole purpose in life is to serve an evil master. Some are a little taller than the others, they have slightly different styles of (sparse) hair, some have two eyes and some have one, but all wear goggles and they speak in a kind of child-like babble which combines English, Spanish, French and possibly bits of a few other languages too (it's kind of hard to tell). Oh, and one more thing – they're simply and completely ADORABLE! In spite of their evil inclinations, these are simple-minded, child-like innocents who mainly want to have fun and fulfill their potential as minions. And they are front and center in "Minions" (PG, 1:31).

This sequel to the "Despicable Me" movies is really a spin-off and also a prequel, which takes us back to the beginning of the minions' story – ALL the way back. We see how the minions originated and, through a short series of vignettes, we observe their well-meaning, but hilariously botched attempts to serve a wide variety of ill-tempered masters throughout history. Finally, they are driven into exile in an ice cave in Antarctica. They build a civilization and do their best to entertain themselves, but without a master to serve, they're unbearably bored. So, in 1968, Kevin (voiced by co-director Pierre Coffin, who does all minion voices), a tall(ish) minion, tells his tribe he's going on a quest to find them a new master. With only the extremely child-like minion (even by minion standards) named Bob, and a "volunteer" named Stuart to help, Kevin begins his journey.

The three minions end up at Villain Con, a secret convention of super villains and their fans, where the minions meet and get hired by Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), the first female supervillain. Scarlet is taking her typical girlish fantasy of being a princess a little too seriously. She wants her newly-hired helpers to steal the British crown jewels so she can be Queen of England. Scarlet's husband, Herb (John Hamm) sets up Kevin, Stuart and Bob with a variety of his evil inventions and they embark on their mission. Of course, this being the minions, nothing goes according to plan, one thing leads to another, Scarlet feels as if the minions have betrayed her, and she sets out to get revenge on Kevin, Stuart and Bob, while still trying to accomplishing her goal. Meanwhile, the rest of the minions have received word that Kevin has found them a new master in the U.K. and the entire tribe is working to get there ASAP.

"Minions" has a slightly different target audience than the "Despicable Me" films and feels like a little too much of a good thing. Don't get me wrong – I LOVE me some minions, but they're schtick can wear thin. Even their powerful minion cuteness can't sustain an entire film. Plus, while the "Despicable Me" movies seemed to appeal nearly equally to kids, teens and adults, the minions' spin-off is more squarely aimed at kids. The animation, voice work and story are all as strong as the previous films in which the minions appeared, but the humor in this one aims a little lower. The adults will enjoy the soundtrack and there are plenty of cute, clever, and funny moments. "Minions" works well as a family movie, but I think the little yellow guys should stick to being fun, naughty side-kicks. It's what they do best. "B+"

This animation tells the story of the minions trying to look for an evil master in order to keep up their morale. They find a villain called Scarlet Overkill, and the minions are tasked with stealing the crown from the Queen.

I saw the trailer and I thought the "Minions" was so cute. After watching the film, I thought it was even cuter than I expected! The plot is silly but fun. The minions are simple in design, and simple in their thoughts, but they manage to create the funniest situations. There are some jokes that made me laugh out loud, such as the usage of a teapot inside a police car. I also just realised that the minions are not talking unintelligible gibberish - it is actually a mix of languages, which I spotted Spanish, German, Mandarin and Bahasa. I enjoyed watching this animation, it is 90 minutes of brain-off entertainment.

The popularity and the huge profits of Despicable Me franchise has driven the eagerness of Illumination Entertainment to produce a minions spin-off solely to entertain the fans. Caught in variations of the same scenarios, the decision to put more focus on the three minions - Kevin, Stuart and Bob might remind audiences about Alvin and the Chipmunks or the three daughters of Gru. While the animation does remain the fun, hilarious and ridiculous behaviors of the characters, the theme of the scores and the nonsensical language of the minions, it does not have a strong villain to support the three, also it lacks of character development, warm emotional engagement and moral values. The cuteness of the minions is the main element for entertainment rather than the dialogue itself in which the jokes aren't as funny as Despicable Me's series. Nonetheless, it is still energetic, actions packed, visually stunning and colorful for family audiences even its creative mistake drags its overall quality, proving that these banana lovers are far more effective and surprising to be supporting characters just as in the main franchise.

Alive since the beginning of time, Minions live to serve the biggest, baddest, and most evil. After a series of unsuccessful masters find a way to perish, the Minions no longer have someone to work for, a purpose to live and they all being to grow depressed. But one minion finally decided to do something, Kevin, along with Bob and Stuart venture into the world to find their people a new evil boss to work for. Their search culminates in them meeting Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), the world's first ever evil super villainess.

Let's be honest, there wasn't really a need for this movie other than an excuse to put Minions in a movie. This movie will inevitably make lots and lots of money. They're cute, they talk funny, and they act funny. Kids (myself included) loved them from the 2 Despicable Me films and they (and I eventually will) probably have all of the related merchandise. Kids will want to see this one too and get all the eventual merchandise that will come from it.

Now to the film! Even though I am an adult, I liked it. I mentioned that I liked the 2 Despicable Me films and the thing I liked the most from them was the Minions. Despite all of these years, they still haven't gotten old for me. But the question is could they carry a movie? The answer is no. Don't get me wrong, I like the Minions and the movie is called Minions but it did not have to focus on them as much as it did. There are other human characters in the film like Scarlet Overkill and her husband Herb (Jon Hamm) and also this family of bank robbers. I felt that they were a little underused and a little more of them would have provided some balance. Another thing that was underused was the narrator. He was used in the beginning of the film just so the viewers can understand what was going on. It could sometimes be difficult to understand what is going on when all you see is a bunch of Minions speaking gibberish. There were moments later on where more explanation would have helped. The story is simple enough. The film is a prequel to the 2 Despicable Me films so it takes place in the 60s so you'll get all the time-appropriate references and a soundtrack with 60s music so you'll get your Beatles, your Who, etc. The slapstick humor will keep the kids entertained and the 60s references will entertain the adults. Some of the reviews have mentioned that the plot is not compelling but I was fine with it. I would have liked it if some of the writing for some of the human characters was a little better. It wasn't terrible but I what I liked about the Despicable Me films was how the human characters interacted with the Minions. If I had to compare this film to the Despicable Me films, this one would place third behind 1 and then 2. I personally can't wait until their next film which will be Despicable Me 3 which comes out in 2017.