Despicable Me It's Not, But Enjoyable It Still Is

Rating: 7/10 (26 January 2016)

I think movies like this are always going to be a bit of a risk. I guess there's a certain amount of risk to any film, but I think more-so with spin-offs. Usually I think to myself when I hear about films like this is "How are they going to make a film entirely about side characters?". I thought the same about Penguins of Madagascar. Penguins wasn't a brilliant film, but it was enjoyable and the makers done a good job of making a feature from "bit part" characters. Well, I think the makers of Minions done a similarly good job here in making a feature about Gru's little henchmen as it's a pretty enjoyable movie.
I liked the story line they worked with for the movie with it posing the questions "Who are the Minions & how did the Minions come to be?". They went with the Evolution angle, Minions style, showing them how they first came into existence, how they evolved over millions & millions of years, and how they only want to serve the ultimate villain. The story obviously expands as we fast-forward a good few millenia to 1968, where Bob, Stuart, & Kevin go off to search for their tribes newest ultimate villain (ultimately ending up with the obvious towards the end).
Now, I personally enjoyed the film. It was pretty funny (though not hysterical), it was well animated, and the voice cast all done a good job. I liked the characters (especially the Nelson family), and the more subtle jokes that were shown e.g. the filming of the moon landing. Was it ultimately as good as the Despicable Me films? No, and I think the Minions will always be better as side characters, but this is still a good film in it's own right.
Minions isn't a kids movie either...it's a family film, and I think it's a film that will be generally enjoyed by audiences of all ages. I'm almost 42 and I enjoyed it.
Oh, as a side note to those who complained about how there's "no black characters". Grow up, don't be pathetic, and stop continually playing the race card. It's growing old.