Minions

Minions make everything better.

They’re just so damn funny and lovable and silly that they should have worn their welcome pretty thin by now, but they’ve somehow only gotten more enjoyable and addictive to watch. So here we are, a spin-off movie under their belt and a main franchise still kicking, and while a movie dedicated to these critters seemed like a no brainer coming out of their success and popularity in the Despicable Me films, there was always the logical worry that there wouldn’t be much to explore outside of the Minion’s crazy antics and nonsensical jibberish. While that may be the case, it is a far more successful film than I had hoped for.

The first third of the movie, simply put, is brilliant. We follow the yellow blobs as they evolve from small bacterial organisms all the way to the forms we know and love them by, tailing and pledging allegiance to the alpha animals in the food chain in their never-ending quest to find the perfect boss. As we know from the Despicable Me films, Gru is their end all be all boss, but this story starts at the beginning of their search during the dawn of the dinosaurs and moves all the way through the stone age up to Napoleon Bonaparte and his world-conquering army. Of course, none of these shmucks were meant to be, so after a few thousands of years of disappointment and the hilariously unfortunate demise of most of their boss’, the Minions decide to strike off on their own and put finding a boss to the wayside. Here is where the real story starts.

Years and years after their self-exile, the Minions are bored with life. After all, a Minions duty is to serve and with no boss to call their own, what’s the point of living? This is where we are introduced to our protagonists: Kevin, Stuart, and Bob. Each armed with a distinct and complimenting personality, they set off to find their new boss while the entirety of their friends and family stick behind to wait for a worthy successor to come their way.

Taking place in the 1960’s, the initial set up of the movie is relatively promising. While not necessarily moving the story forward in any particularly important way, it’s fun to see the Minions interact with a world they know nothing about. The way they talk (Bananaaaa!!!), coupled with their specific personalities lends to some really good bits. Eventually, they catch wind of the catalyst that kicks the rest of the story into gear: Villian-Con, a massive secret get-together of nefarious bad guys and gals sprinkled with some monsters and supervillians from around the world. Think Comic-Con but for baddies.

Once they reach their destination with a little help from a hilariously twisted family of five, the movie slowly begins to stall out and after a few more funny scenes of our Minions interacting with the villainous crowd around them; it’s off to find Scarlett Overkill (Sandra Bullock), the ultimate name in the villain underworld.

Miss Overkill is on the prowl for some new henchmen and Kevin, Stuart, and Bob make it their mission to crown her their new boss. After securing the job, the Minions are taken back to Overkill’s mansion and introduced to her husband, Herb (Jon Hamm) as well as the central plot of the movie: steal the crown off of Queen Elizabeth’s head and make Scarlett the ruler of all of England.

While this is where the real meat of the story happens, tossing away the playful, wandering sensibility of the first third of the film, it’s still a good enough set up to get excited for what stupid situations Kevin, Stuart and Bob will get themselves into. Bullock, channeling all the evil she can apparently muster, doesn’t really add much to her scenes. It’s pretty clear that the filmmakers needed to put some big name on the poster because it’s equally as clear that the role could have gone to literally anyone else and still have the same effect.

What follows is a more focused movie experience, sprinkled here and there with some of the brilliance of the first 30 minutes, but never really reaching those heights again. From time to time we cut back to check in on the extended Minion family and while funny, these scenes really add up to nothing more than filler to pad out what the filmmakers knew must have been a paper thin script. There are a few instances of foreshadowing that anyone outside of childhood can see coming from a mile away, but being what it is, it’s easily forgivable. After all, this is a kids movie.

That being said, the ending devolves into a silly battle between our heroes and the devious Scarlett Overkill that seems to be placed on a grand scale just because that’s what movies seem to resort to in the third act nowadays, regardless of having a legit reason for it.

The movie ends on an amazing throwback to the Despicable Me films that I personally didn’t expect or see coming, but it was a nice way to put a neat little bow on top of everything.

A good fun ride while it lasted, but without any real emotional core and a story that would fall flat if it were not for the movie’s namesake creatures, the Minions movie is a fun romp at the theaters that anyone can enjoy.