Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)

Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)

 

6/10

 

Starring the voices of 

Steve Carell

Pierre Coffin

Taraji P. Henson

Michelle Yeoh

Russell Brand

 

Directed by Kyle Balda

 

This CGI animation movie is a sequel to the spin-off prequel Minions (2015) and the fifth entry overall in the Despicable Me franchise.

"I am tired of the Despicable Me franchise" is something I never thought I would say. The idea that I would watch a Despicable Me movie/spinoff and be tired of the antics is surprising. I miss Gru’s three daughters, they served as a form of distraction and were a needed addition to the mayhem of constantly seeing these Minions.

The movie wasn’t bad, but I guess it’s time to shelve this character and its spinoff for a while. This movie is more geared towards children, who will find the antics, the jumping up and down, the noise, and the silly adventure exciting. I think the major challenge for me, as an adult, was the story.

It did feel good seeing the Minions and Gru working together as they put the pieces together of what led them all to form a gang, but I missed the girls.

The movie follows the life of 11¾-year-old Gru, who has dreamed of being part of the Vicious 6 criminal organization for less than two years. Years after the events of the first Minions movie, Gru has now allowed the Minions to work for him, with him as their new leader.

When Gru gets the invite to join the Vicious 6 as the new member, after his idol Wild Knuckles, the former leader, dies, he’s thrilled. He goes for the audition, prepared to get the job, only to be laughed at because the group thinks he’s a short man, not an actual boy.

The group has a prized item, which they stole at the start of the movie when Wild Knuckles was with them. It’s a stone capable of turning anyone into one of the animals of the Chinese zodiac.

As Gru was leaving after the embarrassment, he noticed the Vicious members being preoccupied by another audition, and he stole the stone.

The moment they noticed, a chase started, with Gru escaping with the aid of his Minions. He gave the stone to one of them, Otto, to take to the lair while he distracted and led the Vicious away. It worked, but when he got back home, he discovered that Otto had traded the precious stone for a pet rock.

This caused Gru to fire the Minions, and when he went on his own to find the missing stone, he gets kidnapped.

The animation is what you would expect from this movie style. Nothing much has changed—the Minions are still their silly selves, and the movie is more about everything else than it is about Gru. Even though I expected the movie to draw a better line between this movie and the first Despicable Me film, I was dissatisfied.