I got to see the Minions movie tonight. I went into this movie actually pretty excited. I am not the biggest fan of the Despicable Me movies. I think they are just ok, but the thing I like about them most is the minions characters. They are really funny with their language and love of bananas. There is something adorable about them. They even like selfies on occasion…
And little kids love the minions. I’ve seen it with my 5 nieces. They crack up and get a huge smile on their faces whenever they see the minions. But it is always tricky when a sidekick gets their own movie (think Elektra…) especially sidekicks that don’t speak English. How was this going to work?
Then the first trailer came out and it looked really cute. It is actually the first 5 minutes or so of the movie in that first trailer and it is the best part of the movie IMO. We get the history of the minions starting with amoeba cells and then through all time periods looking for a master to serve. This takes us to 1968 and 3 of the minions decide to go out and look for their leader before they all perish from boredom. They are Bob, Kevin and Stuart which for some reason makes me laugh. It just seems like funny names for these minions.
They then travel great distances and there are some cute gags but nothing that wasn’t shown in a trailer and that made me laugh out loud. The best scene is probably when Stuart wants to eat Kevin and Bob because he thinks they are bananas but again that is in the trailer so you don’t need to pay the big bucks to see that. Eventually they make it to New York where we start to get material from the second trailer. This trailer had me nervous. It looked like a lot of adult ‘wink-wink’ humor which I really hate. Like do we really need to see Stuart in a thong and having a threesome joke? I certainly don’t.
But luckily there isn’t that much of those jokes so my fears were mostly ill founded. Besides, pretty much all the adult humor jokes are in the trailer including a scene where they are tortured which was strange and hung in a noose. Do we really need that in our kids comedy? These scenes were awkward instead of funny.
The minions eventually go to Villain-con which was a fun sequence and they meet Scarlet Overkill voiced by Sandra Bullock. Her character had potential but they didn’t do much with her. I think they needed a vocal performance with a little more sauce to it like someone Russian or with an exotic accent. Bullock ends up feeling flat as Scarlet but it isn’t really her fault because she doesn’t have much to do. Her boyfriend is voiced by John Hamm who is actually a little bit funnier than Scarlet.
The one thing I did like is Scarlet wants to be a princess and be treated like royalty. She already has the money so I thought that was kind of clever to have a female villain who still wants to be pretty and a princess. Usually the villain hates princesses. I also liked she wanted her hair cut like a drawing of her as a princess she did when she was a child. That made me laugh.
So she equips the trio of minions to steal the crown from Queen Elizabeth. The rest of the movie is then spent in England and at one point Bob becomes King of England which was funny.
I think small kids who already love the minions will enjoy this movie. It is definitely better than say a Home or Strange Magic. That said, I never really laughed like I did for Penguins of Madagascar last year which was very funny and had great vocal performances. It also makes me realize how clever Mr Peabody and Sherman was because that had a thin premise but the jokes were so good I laughed a lot. Both those movies are much better than Minions.
A friend of mine asked me if she should still see and I said yes. It’s fine but just know it is made for little kids without a ton of grown up appeal. But then it has those adult moments which are unfortunate. However, it does look nice and is bright and colorful and the beginning 20 minutes is a lot of fun. It’s when they get to England that things really fall apart.
In the end I left Minions thinking ‘that was cute but I didn’t laugh’, and I think many of you will feel the same way. I also might have laughed more if everything hadn’t been in the trailers. But like I said it’s cute, there are a couple jokes that work but there are sections where I got a little bit bored because I wasn’t laughing.
Kids will like it but probably forget about it rather quickly. If you have a $1 theater by you wait till then to take the kids. It’s worth a $1. $10 I don’t think so.
If you like 1960’s classic rock you will enjoy the soundtrack with songs from The Who, Beatles, Kinks and many other bands. They must have spent a fortune on all the songs so that is cool.
I will say the people in front of me were laughing hysterically so maybe I missed something? Or they were on something? Not sure…
Overall Grade- C-
Any of you see it? What did you think?
My youtube review
On the surface it was silly fun, but I was surprised with how many in-jokes that reference pop culture. The Beatles walking across the street a la the Abbey Road album, the carpet design from the Shining, the minion greeting the fire hydrant with “Hello Papagena!” which is a character from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. He whistles the tune later. The Minions sing songs from Hair, the Monkees, Make’em laugh. Little rewards like that made this fun for adults as well as kids. 🙂
That’s a good point. Those moments were fun but they didn’t really make me laugh. I smiled at a few but in contrast the Lego Movie had in jokes like the Star Wars rave that had me in stitches. So the pop culture references can be hilarious and these made me smile.
The music was a lot of fun and I enjoyed that. The Hair scene was strange but amusing. It was cute movie but that’s why I gave it my average score of C not a D like Strange Magic or Home. Minions is definitely better than those.
I didn’t even notice the Shining or Magic Flute reference. Good eye! The people in front of me were laughing like it was the first joke they’d ever heard so maybe it was just me?
I found the noose jokes amusing and wasn’t uncomfortable by it. I think I laughed way too hard at the part in the trailer where they pretend to be a woman and where the “boobs” are supposed to be open up and show one of the Minions’ eyes, lol!
Yeah humor is super subjective so maybe you’ll be cracking up. I smiled but didnt really laugh hard.
I do think a noose joke is inappropriate especially in the current environment of racial tension. A hangmans noose has a lot of symbolism to most people of hatred and lynchings. Also not a fan of the boob jokes. But to each their own.
It’s not terrible. I gave it my average grade. The start is best part and the minions are cute
I’ll most likely review the movie on my blog if/when I see it.
I’m seeing this film tomorrow afternoon. I’ll let you know if I agree with you on this one or not then. Sorry this wasn’t your cup of tea. Great review nonetheless. Isn’t it funny how this film came out exactly 34 years after the Disney film The Fox & The Hound (as that one apparently came out on Friday July 10th, 1981)?
Interesting. Didnt know that. They couldn’t be more different! It’s not terrible. I liked some things about it. For me it was average
Understood!
I’m guessing you may like Fox & The Hound better than Minions, eh?
For sure.
I’m not surprised since you gave that a higher ratin than this film. I’ll let you know if I do as well or not. Chancrs are I probably will though. but you never know, right? Anyway, so I noticed that earlier in this review, you have a picture of yourself with one of the Minions. Just curious, was that someone dressed as one of them, or just a cardboard figure? Or either.
Sure you want to spoil the magic? 😉 It was a cardboard cut out but it looks pretty real right?
It really does look real. Sorry, I guess I was just too curious. You know what they say, “Curiosity kills the cat!” Oh well! My apologies!
Ha. I was just teasing you. No apologies required.
Oh okay! Well, just thought I’d make one just to be safe, you know? Anyway!
Hey, so I just thought you should know that I just got done seeing Minions just now. I probably give it a B-. Very funny, but I definitely like the Despicable me films or even Fox & The Hound better. I liked how young Gru shows up at the very end. Crazy, right? Oh, and I’m trying to figure out how Scarlet and her husband survived the explosion at the end. Interesting!
Actually, I take that back, I’ll actually maybe go just a B for this film.
That’s great. I’m glad you found it to be funny. Thanks for sharing your review. Always good to hear a variety of opinions.
You’re welcome! Also, you’re definitely right in that it’s good to share a variety of opinions.
I’m kind of on the same page as you about the Despicable Me movies. I thought they were fine but didn’t get into them like a lot of other people. I liked the trailer for Minions but definitely had concerns that all the “good stuff” was in the trailer and not the movie. I haven’t seen it yet and I don’t know if I will. The part in the trailer about the minions throughout time was really cool though!
Yeah do you have a $1 movie theater by you or some kind of discount theater? That’s the perfect place to see Minions. I wouldn’t pay the big bucks for it. The through time thing is definitely the best part.