Cute, Minion Fun, Lacking A Lot Of Other Elements

Rating: 7/10 (11 July 2015)

We've all had moments where we speak gibberish, but none of us match the skill level of babbling utter nonsense like the Minions of Despicable Me. The cute, cuddly, yellow bodied blobs have entertained for the past few years with their antics, communicating in their special language that remains undecipherable to me this day. Turns out they are so popular Hollywood has decided to give them their own movie, one that is sure to provide hours of fun for all ages alike. So with all the advertisement and hype, you may be wondering what this movie has in store. Fortunately I am here to help, so sit back and read the latest review.
If I were to summarize this movie in one word it would be CUTE. The animation studio has managed to bring all the cuddliness of Gru's henchmen and unleash it tenfold on the screen. Sure there were some adorable moments in Despicable Me movies, but Minions takes it to the next level with squeaky voices, petite faces and huggable goodness. Boys and girls, men and women of all ages will be awing as our three heroes traverse the elements to find their new boss. Bob in particular was the cutest as he jumps into the adventure with eager eyes, and a beat up teddy bear. In truth it is like watching three small children go on an impossible voyage, constantly failing, but doing so in a manner that pulls at your heart strings.
Minions is also a very happy and energetic movie, the youthful antics of the minions bringing a positive vibe to the theater that you feed on. The movie is simply fun, the pint sized aspiring villains living life to the fullest as they explore the city. Because of their enhanced biology, or whatever force makes them nearly invincible, the sky is the limit for what troubles they can get into. Normal devices that are meant to be horrifying, or extremely violent have now been diluted to playground level fun, sugar coated with the Minion cuteness to distract from their true meaning. Bombs, guns, bank robbing, etc, it's all just a big game run by naïve munchkins and a world full of extreme personalities that make for very one dimensional characters.
Surely you are asking one thing in your mind though, is it funny? The answer is yes, Minions is definitely a humor filled movie targeted for the young and young at heart. Slapstick comedy unfolds as the Minions pull off three stooges ploys as they slap, crush, and blow up everything around them. Their klutziness, and again their versatile bodies, allows reality to be shattered and for them to survive anything. As you can guess the Minions gibberish is also very entertaining, the random babbling made funny in the delivery as they add their voice modifications to the mix. Again Bob has the funniest sounds, as his high pitched squabble makes him my favorite. Voices and slapstick aside, the funniest aspect for me are the built in references to the movie in terms of song and movie numbers. I spent my time trying to figure out what movies the scenes were from, having to rely on my mentor to help fill in some of the details, especially those that were about classic bands or plays. Whatever source you find funny, let it be known that Minions is going to get you chuckling at some point in the film. However
Like everything there is a balance that is greatly needed in its film and the major downfall of this movie is doing too much of one thing. First the gibberish thing, it's nice to get that ridiculous language in spurts like in Despicable Me, but in this movie it took too much focus. A lack of dialog was annoying, the mindless gibberish losing its appeal to me, especially when there was a lack of supporting dialog to relieve us from the antics. The slapstick saved it somewhat, the variety in the comedic situations assisting with keeping things fresh. My friend pointed out that Minion antics are fun in small doses, which this movie abuses. The young and obsessed won't care, but I could have used a better story to ground the adventure a bit. The simplistic tale was also not the most thrilling, the tale very formulaic and lacking in character development. Even the villain Scarlet Overkill didn't hold much strength, and was thrown to the back behind the minions. In addition, about half the movie had been revealed in the six trailers they have shown, especially the fun opening, but the parts that weren't ruined are still entertaining. The limited voice acting is decent, but when all you are doing is babbling like an idiot, there isn't much to really be impressed with, even with the great Sandra Bullock leading the group.
Minions is the adventure you are all expecting it to be, a mashup of cute, positive, fun that will have you chuckling most of the way. Chances are if you are obsessed with the little guys in Despicable Me, you are going to find no fault in this movie. However, Minions leaves a lot to be wanted, including story, character development, and some more clever humor that could work with the language. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself with a lot of the humor here, but my scores have to entail everything. I recommend a trip to the theater with a group, or taking your young ones, but please don't be persuaded to see the 3-D version.
My scores are: Animation, Comedy, Family: 7.5-8.0 Movie Overall: 6.5-7.0