Un-apologetically insipid, and therefore awesome. Exceeds (low) expectations.

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2015)

My expectations were very low for this. It came and passed in the theaters and I didn't see it. I only rented a DVD at a friend's request. I was prepared for the worst and received a pleasant surprise: the most amusing, fun cartoon of the year.
This is an absurd cartoon with basically no plot and every 60's reference not previously hogged by Men in Black 3, and yet it is fun to behold. It has slap-stick, pop-references, political-references, and plain- out likable characters.
The movie starts so-so, mediocre. But by the time they are hitch- hiking to villain-convention, the movie suddenly gets really creative and goes full-speed ahead with funny moments and interchanges. What the plot lacks in structure it more than makes up for in pacing. For me the best part of the movie is the late-1st Act to the 2nd Act. It's one of those movies that progressively gets better as time goes on... until it jumps the shark. BIG TIME. By the 3rd Act the movie manages to over-step my BS-limit, which is a shame. By the climax the movie strangely goes full-circle back the mediocrity and staleness of the beginning.
But man, that 1st-to-2nd Act was awesome. The characters are very likable - mind you I'm not talking about the minions, but the secondary characters. Scarlet was so-so, pretty good but not as awesome as 'VECTOR!', her husband though, was I thought perfectly done, it's so weird how for all the couple's insanity, they still have a very healthy, loving, supportive relationship. Most villain- couples break in to bickering when things go wrong, whereas these two actually stick with each other to face their arbitrary, nonsensical enmity with the minions. Also, I hold that the family that picks the minions up hitch-hiking has got to be the best scene of the movie.
The problem is really that the ending is contrived, and the 60's- references are heavy-handed and wear old after the first 5 minutes. Also, the plot has no structure.
Upon the end of this movie, it strikes me that this is a perfect prequel. In every way. It is very much in line with the tone and message of Despicable Me 1, without relying on pandering with cross-references. There are almost no references to the future films. Everything happening is more or less self- contained within this film, and sets up the original only in tone and humor --- the polar opposite of what Lucas did with the Star Wars Prequels. The characters are just as strong as the depth achieved in Gru's in the original. The minions are still rather blank, the extras are still shallow stereotypes. But the supporting characters are beautifully scripted and performed -- just like Despicable Me's strengths and weaknesses. The plot is still rather loose, the dark-to-slapstick-to-dark humor is still strong as ever.
I always felt that Despicable Me 2 was crap. Still do. In Despicable Me 2, the plot was more cohesive -- and incredibly boring and generic. The humor lacked punch in every way. The ending was lame and over-blown. The Characters were flat.
Minions is rather a step back to what worked, they fixed the problems of DM2 and returned to the strengths of the first one. Looking at the strengths of Minions, it is identical to that of Despicable Me, but with a different plot and different characters. If you called this film stupid, you'd be right, but that's not the point. What matters is: how is the stupidity delivered? In 'Minions', the absurdity is shamelessly embraced and executed very cleverly in non-generic ways. Whoever wrote this was a very intelligent and very twisted individual.
This is a film that is bat-guano insane, completely pointless, and written by a genius. Not good, but by God do I RESPECT it.
If you're an adult looking for an intelligently mindless 90 minutes, I recommend no better film. It is also good for kids, oddly enough, my 6-yo brother was jumping on the couch in excitement during the high points, and showed genuine concern during the low-points. Quite a balancing act, to entertain two completely different ages for completely different reasons with the same optimal result. I'm not sure why everyone hates this movie - I blame the marketing- over- saturation; it gave people the wrong expectations. So if you watch this... do yourself a favor and keep an open mind.