Minions

Within the context of the Despicable Me movies, minions are a breath of fresh air – entertaining, silly, musical misfits. But give them a movie of their own, and the yellow thingamajigs obsessed with ‘bananas’ simply lose much of their appeal. Kids will still be moderately entertained by the gibberish-speaking blobs, but older kids and adults may find the Minions movie a bit of a bore.

Minions is a prequel to the 2010 animated hit Despicable Me and its sequel, Despicable Me 2. This new ‘origins’ movie seeks to explain the history of the minions and how they eventually came to follow super-villain Gru. It all dates back to prehistoric times and the minions’ mission to always find the most villainous villain to rally around. Trouble is, they have a knack for knocking off their potential masters in the most inane ways. And without an evil leader, they are simply a lost tribe. When they end up aimless and ambitionless in the Arctic somewhere, three minions- Kevin, Stuart and Bob (voiced by Pierre Coffin) – set off on a journey to find a new evil boss. They end up in 1968 New York and eventually make their way to the villainous equivalent of Comic-Con in Orlando. There, they win the favor of super-villain Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock) and her husband Herb (Jon Hamm), who recruit Kevin, Stuart and Bob to help execute an evil plot to steal the crown of the Queen of England and essentially take over the world. Needless to say, the minions don’t exactly do as they’re told and minion mayhem ensues.

The movie has an enjoyable 60s-music soundtrack, some chuckle-worthy moments, and of course, the obligatory special scenes during the end-credits. And, it will likely keep younger kids captivated enough for 91-minutes in an air-conditioned theater. So it’s not a total bust. But Minions isn’t nearly as good as the movies that made said minions scene-stealing supporting characters.

Bottom line: Minions are simply not leading men-ion material.