Movie review: Minions

Hello!

I’ve just came out of the cinema where I’ve watched probably the most anticipated animated movie of the summer – Minions! Let’s review it.

To begin it, I really liked the Despicable Me movie and its sequel. For me personally, the first Despicable Me film is one of the best animated films of the recent years. Maybe it’s not my favorite animation but it is definitely at the top of the list. Sadly, Minions aren’t even going to make that list. Let me explain why.

IMDb Summary: Minions Stuart, Kevin and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a super-villain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.

Minor spoiler ahead!

Setting

I have already mentioned that I love when movies include real historical facts. It was nice to see this trend continuing in Minions. Also, as a European, I liked the fact that a lot of famous individuals, who were represented in the film, were of European origin. For instance, Napoleon, Dracula and even Queen Elizabeth. Inanimate objects were also represented – one of them was the King Arthur’s sword in the stone.

References to real life

Some of the events of the film reminded me of the real life events. For example, when minions were going to the Villain Convention in Orlando, all I could think about was Playlist Live – a YouTube convention that happens in Orlando. The fact that Scarlet Overkill had an appearance in hall H was a slight callback to San Diego Comic Con as well.

The reference that I enjoyed the most was the one where Bob (I think it was Bob) is getting out of the Underground and he runs into the Beatles, walking across the street like on the cover on their album “Abbey Road”.

Childishness

The humor of the film was quite stupid, so I don’t think that this is an all ages film. The parents will probably be bored and will have to suffer. My favorite part, which made me chuckle the most, was when Kevin expanded into a giant and got stuck in that tiny street. I mean, that would really happen in real life and I was always wondering, how these big monsters or other giant creatures don’t get stuck in narrow streets during action films.

Visual appeal

The computer animation has reached its high long ago, but I am still shocked while seeing what can one achieve by just simply drawing on a computer. The amount of work that goes into every little detail is mind boggling and even if I don’t like the story or the characters, I can always appreciate the technical side of the animation.

My favorite prop of the film was definitely Scarlet’s dress – that’s a cool super-villain costume. Also, Bob’s teddy bear was really cute.

Plot

The plot of the film involved a lot of misbehavior which, don’t get me wrong, was funny and entertaining but not a great example for children, especially the young ones. Also, at one point I thought that they were going to recycle the first’s Despicable Me plot and run with it (changing Gru into Scarlet, and the moon into the crown), but they added a few nice twists and turns, which were a nice surprise.

Voices

Since animated movies are mainly aimed at kids, they are dubbed in my country, so I wasn’t able to hear what Sandra Bullock or Jon Hamm brought to the film. However, the minions had their own language which didn’t require any translation. I liked that you could hear a mixture of languages in their language: there was definitely some French (Illumination Entertainment – the production company behind Minions – is of French origin), some Spanish and a bit of English. So, despite the fact that you couldn’t actually understand what the minions were saying, you instantly knew what they meant.

SPOILERS

Could you spot the young Gru and his mom at the Villain Convention? I though that this was going to be the only tie-in with Despicable Me series but I was wrong. The ending shout-out was really cool and unexpected. I loved it a lot.

Overall, I enjoyed the film but it wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. To my mind, minions work better as side characters and the real stars of the Despicable Me franchise are Margo, Edith, and the cutest one ever- Agnes. Moreover, the real driving force behind that franchise might be the girls relationship with Gru. While I liked how the movie was able to tie in with the main series, I don’t believe that it could stand on its own or that it will stand the test of time.

Rate 3.5/5

Trailer: Minions trailer