C'est Banana, Miam Miam......

Rating: 6/10 (9 July 2015)

Minions live to serve, but find themselves working for a continual series of unsuccessful masters, from T. Rex to Napoleon.
Without a master, the Minions fall into a deep depression. But one minion, Kevin, has a plan.
Accompanied by his pals Stuart and Bob, Kevin sets forth to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow. Their search leads them to Scarlet Overkill, the world's first-ever super- villainess.....
In the despicable me movies, the minions are the highlight, because, as side characters, they are not the main focus of the narrative, so while Gru is the centre, the minions provide the slapstick those movies desperately need.
So inevitably, the spin-off movie arrives, and also inevitably, it's not as funny as you would want it to be. It's hard to imagine, but halfway through the movie, you begin to experience minion fatigue, and you begin to realise that they are much funnier in small doses.
Overkill, and other secondary characters don't have the depth or the personality as Gru and others from the other movies, and she ends up sounding like a spoilt brat for the majority of her screen time.
There are some really funny moments though, the opening ten minutes (even though the majority of it is in the trailer), is a work of genius, and the attempt at stealing the Crown Jewels is also a highlight, it's just that the rest of the movie feels like little sketches added to a thin plot.
The sixties setting though is a brilliant idea, the soundtrack is hilariously genius, and Saunders steals the show as the Queen.
So all in all, it's a little bit of a wasted opportunity, proving that the titular characters, as hilarious as they are, a better as comic relief to Gru, but hey, there's merchandise to be sold isn't there?
Still just about worth seeing though.