Minions (2015)

Minions (2015)

6/10

Starring the voice of

Pierre Coffin

Sandra Bullock

Jon Hamm

Michael Keaton

Allison Janney

Steve Coogan

Directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda

I saw Minions and wasn’t impressed. I guess I was expecting too much from the gibberish-talking, yellow-looking creatures whose sole aim is to serve.

I have to applaud the writers for the script, though. It was a nice attempt, and the movie had its funny moments, but it wasn’t as good as the movies it spun off from (Despicable Me (2010) and Despicable Me 2 (2013)).

I guess the origin story of the Minions was the tripping part of the movie. They’ve existed since the dawn of time, moving through history in search of the most evil and despicable master to serve.
(Spoiler Alert: this happens in the first 10 minutes of the movie.)
The problem they keep having is keeping their masters alive long enough to enjoy serving them. A series of unfortunate events (which they initiate) leads to the death or demise of their masters. They served:

1. A T. Rex
2. A caveman
3. An Egyptian pharaoh
4. A medieval king
5. A pirate captain
6. Genghis Khan
7. Napoleon
8. Dracula.

The fun in the first ten minutes was watching this transition from master to master and the series of unfortunate events that led to their demise. Dracula’s death in the film is one you’ll love—they accidentally expose him to sunlight while trying to celebrate his birthday.

That’s basically the plot of the movie. The Minions are in search of a new evil master to serve, and Kevin, along with volunteers Stu and Bob, travels to New York City to find one. There, they learn about Villain-Con, a villain convention where supervillains from around the world meet to recruit new henchmen.

The Minions attend and somehow get hired by Scarlet Overkill, the greatest and first female supervillain in the world. Kevin calls the others to meet him, Stu, and Bob in London (where Scarlet lives) as she plans to steal Queen Elizabeth’s crown with the help of her three new henchmen.

I’ve seen the Minion shorts, and they’ve all been great, which led me to go see this feature-length film. But halfway through, I got bored—I missed Gru and the girls. I feel the Minions are great as supporting characters, not as leads.

If you like Despicable Me and are in the mood for some gibberish talk from those lovable Minions, then go see this movie. If not… wait for Despicable Me 3 (2017).