Lovable And Repetitive (Minions Review)
Minions Movie Review
Written by Huzaifa Khan on June 29, 2015.
I honestly love the minions. Can I just have one or is that too much to ask in a day and age where we have thinks like ninja robots and Donald Trump running for president? While I work on my "despicable" plan to get these goofballs, how's about we take a look at the upcoming Despicable Me spinoff film, self-titled Minions.
So Minions centers around the little yellow henchmen audiences grew a strong liking to from the original Despicable Me movies, specifically our titular three; Kevin, Stuart and Bob.
Just to get you caught up to speed on the plot, the movie essentially centers around the idea that these creatures we call Minions have been on this planet far longer than we have, desperately looking for the most despicable master to serve. In this quest, they've served some of history's baddest villains, from the infamous T-Rex to the notorious Dracula, as well as serving in some of civilization's key moments, from the Civil War to the creation of the Egyptian pyramids. But now that they've exhausted all their options, the Minions have ended up in Antarctica, with no master to serve. On the verge of extinction from no purpose in life, one brave minion (Kevin) will gather up two other "volunteers" (Stuart & Bob) and set out on a daring quest in order to find a new boss to serve under, which happens to be the world's first female supervillain, Scarlet Overkill.
Now it's hard to find, in modern cinema, an animated spinoff that does its characters justice without potentially screwing up the very reason audiences were on board in the first place. It's safe to say that Minions does our favourite little henchmen justice in that department...for about the first 40 minutes or so.
Starting with the first 40 minutes, this really highlighted what the audiences came for and wanted in a movie about Minions: the Minions. This part of the film was essentially what you'd expect from a movie about these guys, filled with crazy shenanigans, slapstick comedy, and just the overall Minion humour we've come to expect, and it was brilliant. I consider myself a grown man of sorts, and yet their childish acts and jokes were the very reason I decided to watch the movie, and I was not disappointed one bit. These 40 minutes or so were entertaining as ever and provided a stellar start to a much anticipated movie...until it didn't.
I mean, it's safe to assume that when you have a movie about the sidekicks of a franchise, you'll want to divert the attention so that the audience has something else to look forward to, but this just took it too far. Scarlet Overkill, voiced by Sandra Bullock, was an entertaining character on her own, but it was what we've seen over and over, and you'll get that feeling from the very first time you see her on screen. It was even worse of a fact that the movie somehow concluded that the Minions wouldn't be able to support their own movie, and shifted the focus on Scarlet Overkill for a good chunk, which not only provided dull story, but a dull, paint-by-the-numbers character that made the last acts of this movie a slight mission to bare. That's not to say that the Minions in any way were responsible, but it would have been nice to focus more on the Minions in a movie that goes by that very name.
The movie's set in 1963, which they never really explain, but it's a fun twist that allows for multiple references and jokes to the age and time, from the Beatles to the moon landing and everything in between. Things like that often set the movie aside from its stereotypical nature, and that's a good thing I really liked about this movie.
The voice talents in this movie were extremely well done also. With the likes of Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, and more amongst the ranks, it provided for some great charisma brought to the table in about every scene they were in. Now whether or not their lines stuck is another discussion. Pierre Coffin, the voice actor for all the Minions, did an even greater job, somehow bringing a different tone to the multiple characters he had to play, and that complimented this movie really well.
Overall, if you love, or even remotely like the Minions, then you're going to thoroughly enjoy this movie. Does it have some stale parts that made the theater not chuckle once? Definitely. But seeing these characters bring what we love to the screen once more provides some great taste to the overcrowded summer movie season. If you've got a kid, are a kid, or just love things for kids, then this is definitely a movie you'll want to check out. Even if you don't, you'll get a few chuckles out of it and a great time for the first half, the 2nd half is a completely different story, but one that still makes Minions worth checking out.
KhanFlix Rating: 7.5/10
Minions hits theaters everywhere on July 10, so be sure to check it out and let us know what you think in the comments below or on our social media pages!
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