Since I’ve started this site, I’ve written a lot of reviews. In case you missed some of my earlier ones, I would like to share an older review of “Minions” which originally appeared here.
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.
Score: 7.5/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.