Picture Courtesy of Universal Pictures
Everyone’s favorite yellow…things. The Despicable Me films have gained a lot of momentum and it’s hard to believe they would have made it this far without these guys. The minions are mysterious yellow guys who have an odd language of their own. Their origins were never brought up, and it was just assumed they were invented somehow in the lab with the other inventions from Despicable Me. It’s really impossible to go anywhere without seeing the Minions. They are on tic tacs, cereal boxes, clothes, toys, movies, and even Facebook! Memes depicting random sayings and random Minions has vomited all over our Facebook walls.
Minions the movie starts off by showing us the origins of the Minions and ultimately how they came to be with Gru in the first movie, Despicable Me. The funny little creatures live to serve evil or bad people and are always looking for a boss to serve. After living in an arctic exile the Minions have become complacent and lifeless. Kevin decides that he will venture out into the world and find them a new boss. When asking for volunteer the rest are hesitant and volunteer Stuart, while he is sleeping, and Bob joins the two as no one else will. The three travel across the world to New York where they find out about Villain-Con. Villain-Con is a convention in Florida where all the worlds best Villains get together. While there, they gain employment under the infamous Scarlet Overkill, voiced by Sandra Bullock. Scarlet takes the three back to London with her and they set out to steal the crown from the queen of England.
The film begins narrated by Geoffrey Rush, but is gradually faded out. For a film based on characters that do not speak English, and have a language of their own, it is surprisingly easy to follow. There are the odd English words thrown in for references, but generally the Minions speak gibberish. The gibberish and their odd misadventures are what makes the Minions so enjoyable to watch.
Picture watching Despicable Me, but with the roles reversed. There are still other main characters to the story but they become sideline characters and take a back seat from the Minions.
Minions is able to fit that particular niche of humour where kids love them, but so do adults. Both the adults and the kids are entertained, although sometimes for different reasons, bottom line everyone still has fun. It wasn’t a spectacular movie but still a decent way to pass the time with some laughs. The film ends with finding a connection to Gru, but I have a feeling we could see a Minions 2 to try and rake in as much cash as they can before they get put to bed.
Chris Knox 