Minions Review

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Pierre Coffin, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Geoffrey Rush

The sidekicks of the Despicable Me franchise have finally gotten their own movie. Neither Disney, Pixar, nor DreamWorks, Despicable Me has made Illumination Entertainment one of the biggest animation studios today with just two films. Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 (a much better movie in my opinion) were deeply rooted in emotion, and the plot was based on Gru adopting daughters in the first one, and the girls finally getting a mother in the sequel. While the Minions are the most popular part of these two films, there's no denying the success comes from Steve Carell's incredible voice performance and the surprising emotional heft. Minions doesn't have either. It's the gibberish humor you would expect, with not a lot of messages. But I guarantee you, it's a fun time.

In Minions, three Minions named Kevin, Stuart, and Bob go on an adventure to find the biggest, baddest boss. Geoffrey Rush narrates the opening, in which they jump from boss to boss. This is funny, but if you've seen the trailers, you've seen the exact same sequence. Eventually they find Scarlet Overkill, the first female supervillain in 1968, and her husband Herb. Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm continue the trend of unforgettable characters with great voice performances. Everyone does a great job with their voicework. There honestly aren't very many human characters besides the two, so there's not a lot of English. While you can't understand the Minions, they are incredibly funny and each has their own great personality. Bob steals the movie with his charm and innocence, and he has some hilarious scenes. Everything Bob does is amazing, and he's so cute. A really fantastic character.

One of my favorite parts of Minions is the language. The script is incredible, and it's barely English. I sort-of feel like that's a drawback, but the Minion language is so well created, it's hard to call it a fault. The way the interact with Scarlett Overkill and how she responds to their language is great. Another great thing about Scarlet is how relentless she is. There's no backstory, she's just an evil woman, and you actually feel like she will kill Kevin, Stuart, and Bob. An issue with the film is just that it doesn't know where its roots are. Is it for kids? Or can someone like me, and my family enjoy it? We all loved it, but it's hard to ignore that it's a very childish movie. Of course, there are some adult jokes (way more than you'd expect) but at the end of the day, I was rolling my eyes a couple times. But the laughing totally overpowered it, and the spectacular ending that ties this movie to Despicable Me is so well done. Go see Minions! You'll have a great time!

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