Ristrutturazioni domestiche

The orphanage calls the house. They're sending a social worker to do a home visit. Margo, Edith, and Agnes scramble to make the house less weapondry with the help of the Minions. This is a great short for the Minion franchise. It ties in with the main story. It utilizes all the main characters. It's a side scene but it connects with the main story. It could easily be a deleted scene. It's perfect for its purposes.

So, I really liked the movie "Despicable Me" and adored its narrative storyline so much that I had wanted to get the DVD for Christmas. Luckily, I did. But before then, I heard that they were releasing three short movies to go along with the DVD in a DVD called, "Minion Madness." The one I had gotten was the double feature so I was reading the synopsis for all the movies including "Home Makeover" and learned that it was about the main characters, little girls from Despicable Me attempting to turn the house into a form of a child's imagination. So that they could keep the social worker from trying to sell the girls back to Miss Hattie's. While watching this short for about one minute, I pictured something a little naive.

"Home Makeover" is actually a plush little comedy spin-off about how hard life can be when you're growing up and how things change especially after you're being adopted and you're still in the contract while these girls are home alone with Margo being the oldest (obviously around 10 or 11) and she's even old enough to babysit her younger adoptive sisters. It also illustrates on how the pressures of being home alone can be painful, frustrating and lonesome like for instance: the movie, "Home Alone." Especially for a preteen in the midst of adoption. Margo is not you're average babysitter (or nanny) and even the other little girls, Agnes and Edith are not your average kids whom you want to babysit with.

They are unconfined, lonely and nervous about the situation. But Margo, (I think) shows her sisters how life can be frustrating and even painful sometimes and learning how to work as a team together to get the problem solved. Movies/Shorts/TV shows about a personal, popular group from another movie working as a team to get over a problem always tend to work if the build-up is correct (which can be really tough sometimes even if the girls from "Despicable Me" were never working as a team together. You see, they were really anxious and hopeless after their abduction by Vector.) Well, here, it's done in a pretty childlike and naive way in which children of any age can entertain themselves with.

Possibly watch it about five times with the addition of the movie (twice) to learn how tough life can be and how to get over problems. By the end, I was brightened that one of the girls with tomboyish problems learn to get over things. Shorts spun off of very light-hearted movies are usually a little coy but "Home Makeover" is one of the exceptions. It understands life very well and how the world goes around and around. Even though Agnes still acts a little foolish, she is not in a bad way though, she grows smarter and she learns to care about her older sisters and even herself, and even before I saw this remarkable short, I came to care about her even before I had to watch the movie whenever she went, "IT'S SO FLUFFY I AM GOING TO DIE!" I was desperate to see the movie specifically for her. *** from *****

Home Makeover (2010)

*** (out of 4)

Charming short from the DECPICABLE ME series has a social worker coming to Gru's home to see if it's live-able for children so Edith, Margo and Agnes must get the house cleaned up and remodeled. Of course the minions are along to help out. This is certainly better than the main feature itself as well as the other shorts that were included with its release. There are quite a few funny moments here but the overall film just has a very good flow to it as the minions and the three orphans work around the house and have to come up with creative ideas to cover up the dangerous items there. The stuff dealing with the tennis balls was very funny as was the painting scheme. Fans of the series will certainly enjoy this one.

The Minion shorts are a hit and miss bunch but thankfully this is one of the better ones.

When the girls learn that a social worker is coming round for an inspection it's up to them and the Minions to give the house a child friendly makeover!

Featuring the original voices, fantastic quality animation and all the usual charm Home Makeover is a welcome addition to the Despicable Me movie universe.

The Good:

Looks and sounds great

Usual minions charm

The Bad:

Nothing really

Things I Learnt From This Short:

Axes and spiked maces make suitable alternatives to traditional cutlery

Iron Maidens make great tennis supply holders

This short film is about the minions and the children rushing to create a massive makeover for their home, in time for a social worker's inspection to see if their home is suitable for children.

"Home Makeover" is only four minutes long if you exclude the credits, but it manages to squeeze a lot in because of the quick paced plot. How the home is so unsuitable for children is quite entertaining to watch. For example, there are axes, needles and even a coffin! The minions work hard to make the home warm and welcoming, and concealing the dangerous items like pros.

I enjoyed "Home Makeover" because it is pure fantasy. The home is a fantasy, while the extreme makeover is also fantastical. It provides a temporary escape for life's troubles.