Well, this was inevitable. After the huge success of Despicable Me 1 & 2, (both films generating a combined total of over 1.5 billion dollars at the US domestic box office) further expansion of the Despicable Me franchise was bound to happen. The Minions, the odd yellow creatures that acted as the goofy sidekicks to the protagonist Gru, were universally loved by children and adults alike, instantly making their mark on pop culture, infesting their way into a huge wave of merchandising, even seen in those annoying ‘feel-good’ messages your mom is always reposting on Facebook.
A similar experiment was tried last year, when the Penguins characters from the Madagascar film franchise were given their own film, which resulted in decent results. Minions overall, is a success. What must’ve been a hard film to crack by directors Pierre Coffin (the creator of the characters) and Kyle Balda (The Lorax), Minions is a funny film which will be loved by the kids, with enough winks and nods for adults to be entertained during its very quick and breezy run time.
Master of the House
Starting with a voice-over delivered by the always great Geoffrey Rush, we are introduced to the Minion species. A collective clan of gibberish-speaking creatures, they realise their sole purpose on Earth is to help any evil beings, starting with the Dinosaur Rex, to Dracula and later on polar bears. Each run with a bad guy is short run due to the minions lack of intelligence and slapstick nature, always accidentally causing the deaths of their masters. After accidentally shooting Napoleon with a cannon, the minions are once again left with no master.
Slowly losing their will to live, one Minion (Kevin), decides to venture out and gain a new leader for the tribe. Aided by ukele-weilding Stuart and simpleton Bob, their journey takes them from Manhattan during the hippie era, to Orlando and finally to England, where bulk of the action takes place. After some unsuccessful attempts at finding anyone, Minions find out about ‘Villain Con’ (a riff on Comic-Con) where villains go to show-off their wares and upcoming evil plans, which will be headlined by master criminal Scarlett Overkill (Sandra Bullock). Seeing Scarlett as the number one villain, the Minions go to have her as their new master, which results on a whole new venture, which involves stealing the Royal Crown from the Queen of England and the resulting mishaps.
The Three Yellow Stooges
The film is quite funny and employs a very simplistic slapstick nature that the characters are known for, overall staying true to the established characters. Speaking in their gibberish language (voiced by director Pierre Coffin), the film takes influence from the great silent comedians of the past, such as Laurel & Hardy and Charlie Chaplin. The slapstick elements are very reminiscent of the Three Stooges film, showing us that this very broad style of comedy can still be funny today and the universal nature of this type of comedy.
The film utilizes some very enjoyable action set-pieces, which usually entail the Minions screwing up their way into success. One memorable action scene is early on in the film, where the Minions are given a ride to Villain Con by a typical, nuclear family, The Nelsons, who are voiced by Michael Keaton and Allison Janney, whose introductions as a family of bank robbers is a great reveal, leading to an entertaining car chase which establishes the over-the-top nature that this franchise is known for.
Battle-Tested Microphones
The voice talent on display is quite loaded, even though they do feel a bit wasted. The voice talents of this film include Sandra Bullock as the main antagonist Scarlett Overkill, who is voiced well by Bullock, but her character goes down a predictable route and doesn’t quite live up to the promise that the film establishes about her earlier in the film. Her husband, Herb Overkill, is voiced by Jon Hamm who does a great job at attempting to do a quirky, Beatles-esque voice for his character, rather than just reading his lines in a regular delivery which is something sadly seen in a lot of animated films nowadays (simply relying on the power of the name alone rather than their voice acting abilities). Rounding off the cast is Michael Keaton and Allison Janney as the Nelson family and Jennifer Saunders as The Queen of England, employing a stereotypical posh British voice which encompasses every bad British accent we all attempt at some point in our lives.
Home is where the heart is
Whilst the film is quite funny and nails the important aspects for its designated audience, the film is lacking an emotional centre which was seen in the previous two films, which could be accounted to the lack of human protagonist (Scarlett Overkill is overly two-dimensional to elicit any emotional responses). The film features themes seen in plenty of other children’s films, such as friendship and going towards your dreams, which isn’t a bad thing, it’s that when thinking back on the film, it’s much more disposable and emotionally lacking on a whole.
Another aspect which is lacking is some elements that are setup in the first half lack any form of satisfying payoff in the second half. Obviously some jokes can stand on their own, but some characters and plot points are brought up without any seemingly gratifying conclusion that their setups seem kinda insignificant. These elements include the Nelson family, as they are given a great setup in the first half to help the Minions and allude to coming back to help the Minions at some point, but as the film goes on, they are pushed to background characters and as they are some of the stronger characters in the film, I feel like they should’ve been integrated better later on in the plot. Jon Hamm‘s Herb Overkill, the invention-making husband of Scarlett Overkill isn’t given much to do, relegated to wacky side-kick character to Scarlett and to push the overall plot forward, where he is only given around one scene to actually expand and do some character work without depending on the Scarlett Overkill character.
The Verdict
Don’t be fooled by the marketing, this film avoids feeling like a cheap cash-grab sequel to the popular Despicable Me films, it seemingly works on its own, delivering a great film for their designated children audience. The film capitalizes on the simple nature of the Minions characters in an effective way, producing a film with a plot, that whilst not the most original, is delivered in a satisfying way with a effective voice cast. At the same time, the film lacks an emotional core which might leave some older viewers wanting more and a plot which is shifting constantly to keep the children’s attention, which does make Minions a quick and easy viewing experience. Overall, this film delivers on the important part of the film, to quote Back to the Future: “Your Kids Are Gonna Love it”.
Are there any other movie spin-offs that you can think of that turned out well?
(top image source: Universal Pictures)
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