Not great, but not bad

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2015)

Shrek's Puss in Boots, the Penguins of Madagascar, and the Minions of Despicable Me were all inevitably going to get the full feature length treatment. All three have proved to be a little disappointing, but Minions is the least disappointing of the three.
It is the danger of sidekicks that they are perceived to be bigger than their parent movies. The Minions with their gabbly language and cheerful ineptitude, their ignorance of any sort of consequences of their actions and their irrepressible joie-de-vivre are hugely engaging and entertaining creatures. Do they have the capacity to carry a 90 minute movie – well yes, but only just.
When I saw this there was only small child in the cinema (on a schoolday?) and she laughed loudly throughout the prologue but not once thereafter. There you have it in a nutshell! Perhaps she ought to write a review for IMDb. I found it amusing and interesting with its superb score and references to 60s culture. I thought the human voice overs were OK, with Jennifer Saunders and Sandra Bullock standing out, but the plot seemed a bit stretched in places, especially in London.
The final link in the Minions' story when they made their last connection and found their ideal master was excellent and tied everything up neatly but I got the feeling that a lot of chances for Minion mayhem were missed. I did, however, laugh at the torture chamber scene – only the Minions could treat a medieval torture chamber like an adventure playground – brilliant.
So yes, not the triumph it could have been but neither the disaster it could have been. 7/10.