Movie Review: Minions
Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Writer: Brian Lynch
Stars: Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton
Strength: Amazing computer animation and a fun kids' movie.
Weakness: Not as funny as expected, falls short compared to the sequels.
Runtime: 91 minutes
Rating: 3/5
Plot: Minions Stuart, Kevin and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a super-villain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.
Review: The movie explores the origin story of the yellow, little, bug-eyed sidekicks of aspiring super villain Gru from the "Despicable Me" series. It goes through a rather extended intro on how the minions came to being during the times of the dinosaurs and have ever since served criminal masterminds ranging from the T. Rex to Napoleon Bonaparte. The brilliance of the animators become apparent when complete communication is established between us humans and a race of computer generated characters only through their expressions and emotions. Although no children are in peril in this installment of the franchise, there are several scenes of cartoon violence that are played lightly/for laughs (explosions, freeze guns, torture devices) which is good as it would give the kids a reason to go to the movies. The risk Universal Studios took seems to be paying off moneywise because the kids love it. Listening to the three yellow protagonists of the spinoff talk and have arguments in basically gibberish is fun for the kids and they'll get their money's worth, however it is difficult for an adult to sit through it as it lacks the character development aspect of Gru and the girls, which is further amplified by the inclusion of Scarlet Overkill, who is just a bland character with loads of gadgets who loves to be evil, that's it. In all, it's a brilliant film for children up to the age of 7 or 8, and in terms of computer animations (the primary reasons I rated it as a 3). However, for older age groups I would recommend taking your cellphones since boredom will take over soon enough.
Reviewed by Mohaiminul Islam
Comments