Ever since they first appeared in Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment 2010 film debut, Despicable Me. The lovable side characters, the minions have been fan favorites! There is something special to these diminutive, banana-loving, nonsense-spouting henchmen to the point that they somewhat overshadow the main characters. I have to believe that the minions became popular, due to three factors: their cartoony baby-like appearance, their toddler-like gibberish language, and last, their charming, silly, childlike humor. They're pretty much, the embodied all the good things about children. Adults love them. Children love them. Most people love them. It's really hard to hate them. So, it's no surprise that their role was expanding in 2013's hugely successful sequel, Despicable Me 2. Now, with Universal Pictures' latest release, the Minions have been push as the main characters in their own spin-off movie, due to their overall, likability. While, it's nice to see them, in their own standalone film, sadly the film lacks substance. The movie really doesn't have, much depth to its unimaginative plot. Directed by Kyle Balda & Pierre Coffin, the movie chronicles how the little yellow creatures have always been drawn to follow the biggest villains surrounding them. This time, they seek out renowned international villain Scarlett Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock) to be their boss. They win her trust and accompany her to England, where they must prove their loyalty by stealing the queen's crown jewels with the help of Scarlett's weapons-specialist husband, Herb (Jon Hamm). While the movie seems like a 1960s spy/heist film, from the trailers, the movie is barely that. Without spoiling the movie, too much, the movie plot moves very slowly. The first half, with the Minions, trying to reach Villain Con in Orlando was very pointless. The whole idea of them, finding it, by secret villain channel for television was a badly done, deus ex machina. I really hate, how that, scene came into play. Honestly, the scenes in 1968 New York City and the road trip was a real time-waster and should had been cut. Nothing from there, seem that important to the plot. Yes, the Minions meet the Nelsons family, there, but they were very weak human characters. While, I like the voice actors, playing the parents, Michael Keaton as the Dad, Walter Nelson and Allison Janney as the Mom, Marge Nelson. Their interacted with the Minions barely moves the plot, along and their characters were pretty much useless later on the film. I would have, thought, they would end up, being related to Gru (Voiced by Steve Carrell), but it was a big fat red herring that never got, off the ground. Sandra Bullock as Scarlett Overkill was alright as the main baddie, but I was really hoping for more from the character. With a name like overkill, we barely got to see, anything like that, from her. John Hamm is a lot of fun as her nefarious husband Herb, but by far, the Minions are the ones, bringing out the laughs. Kevin, Stuart, and Bob – (all voiced by Kyle Balda), whom Despicable Me fans will remember fondly from the previous films. They are definitely cute. I love, how each one of them, has a unique personality. Kevin is the smart & brave lead, but also has a great snarkiest attitude. Stuart is the impulsive one of the trio; most likely to bring out, the jokes. Bob is the youngest, the most naive and kind-hearted of the trio. He's the one that most people would find, adorable. Honestly, if there was something to nitpick about the movie, it would be, how the movie makes being a criminal seem cool. While, personally, I don't see anything, too wrong, with it. I can see, why certain people might see this as a bad-influence to kids. The Minions are cute and funny. However, they're destined to be disciples to evil masterminds is pretty alarming. One problem that I found a bit, jarring is the way, that they wanted Scarlet to take them, back, after being abuse. It's downright chilling to me. It's like they have Stockholm syndrome mixed with self-hatred. The amount of crude humor, sexual innuendos and lack of heart is also a bit noticeable, here compare to the others films. Still, the filmmakers do fairly well to make sure, that the Minions shenanigans are pretty tame, just to make sure, parents wouldn't overthink those things when coming into this film with their children. Like, I say before, it's difficult to hate them, even with their biggest flaws. I found the humor to be mostly a hit, for me. There were some minor, not so funny moments, but for the most part, it was laugh out funny. The animation is pretty well-made. I love Scarlet's Three Little Pigs story depiction, and how it's in style that looks like stop motion, but still CG. It was pretty cool to look at. Still, I wish, this movie had a more compelling story to match with this great animation. Overall: With their vaguely familiar-sounding language and their penchant for causing chaos, the Minions movie will entertain, both adults and children. Just note, to turn off your brain, when it come to the plot. So check it out and enjoy!
