Movie Monday - Minions

Too much of a good thing.

The cliché is the best way to adequately sum up Minions, Illumination Entertainment’s latest romp through the Despicable Me universe. Illumination opened up a fantastic world for us back in 2010 with the original Despicable Me, and as if the powerhouse vocal cast led by Steve Carell wasn’t enough, they also brought us the loveable little yellow evil doers- minions. In typical modern kid movie fashion, Illumination struck a perfect balance between youth entertainment, the cute comic relief factor of the minions, and those sneaky mature jokes that we swear all day long a kid would never get. The sequel, Despicable Me 2, successfully followed suit, with a bit of extra emphasis on the minions as supporting characters. I loved them both, so naturally I went into Minions expecting the same affection that drove me to pick up both of the previous movies on Blu-Ray when the released.

Illumination Entertainment

Sadly, I was disappointed.

Now, it’s not to say that Minions was bad, quite the contrary, there’s a charming little movie there, and I certainly don’t regret spending the $5 and 90 minutes on it. I definitely expected more though, and after thinking about it, I realized it came down to balance. Admittedly, I was suffering minion overload well before I set foot in the theater. The little yellow sprites are emblazoned on everything these days, from Brawny paper towels to my morning coffee at McDonalds. I think I’m starting to actually know how to speak “Minion” (the gibberish language invented for the minions that’s a garbled mish mash of Hebrew, Spanish, and English). So going into the theater, I was already a tad jaded.

Minions is a prequel, showing us how and why the minions came to be in the service of Carell’s Gru and his cohorts, but there’s not much backstory you really need to know. From the opening credits forward, Minions takes you on a ride through time, settling in 1960’s London for the bulk of the story where the minions are quickly introduced to supervillain Scarlett Overkill (Sandra Bullock) and her husband Herb (Jon Hamm). It’s a simple premise- the minions are compelled down to their very essence to always seek and serve the most

despicable master.

Illumination Entertainment

What made the first two Despicable movies so wonderful was the aforementioned balance between adult humor, comic relief, and kid movie. Rather than being a kid movie with a bit of adult humor to get the parents through to the end credits, Minions is paradoxically an adult movie with enough youth humor to get the kids through to the end credits. From the weirdly controversial opening sequence up through the swinging 60’s backdrop, I found myself wondering how a kid would get even half of the jokes in the movie. We’re not talking little puns or innuendo here, we’re talking full blown visual monologues on topics like evolution and faking the moon landing, not to mention the whole 60’s backdrop.

At this point, it’s safe to say if you have young kids, you probably didn’t live through the 60’s either, more likely your parents or grandparents did. This is minor compared to the comic relief. The minions, who have always served as filler and comic relief, are now the focus of the movie, and in this reviewers opinion, this concept tires by the end of the film. It’s too much minion. Too much banana. Too much minion speak gibberish. It’s like sitting down with a gallon of ice cream, forcing yourself to finish the whole thing, and then having someone walk in the room and say “Oh by the way, we have actual dinner too”.

Illumination Entertainment

There are plenty of gut-busting comical moments, and the adult humor that is present is on point. Let’s be honest, I’m a 31 year old man seeing what’s supposed to be a kid’s movie, I’m here for a reason. However, the over-saturation of the minions’ schtick in Minions definitely needed some reeling in, and sadly brings this movie into a distant third place behind the first two Despicables.