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Minions - Spoiler-free movie review


Nathan Strum

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Okay... I had no plans to see Minions, but when your impossibly adorable niece wants to go see a movie, how can you say "no"? Plus, I went to CalArts with one of the directors.

 

So, we saw Minions. She loved it.

 

For me, not so much.

 

The Minions are fine in small doses as comedy relief, but their incomprehensible gibberish wears pretty thin after a few minutes (much less an entire feature). Also, the plot is really flimsy and contrived, and is just there to hang some jokes off of. Even that would be fine if the jokes were funny (see: "Airplane"), but they just weren't. There were a handful of cute moments, a few fun scenes, but they were all too few, too short, and too far-between. Minions made for a far better trailer than a movie. Also, the movie takes place in 1968, and all of the cultural and musical references go right over the heads of the target audience of little kids.

 

Since the Minions all effectively act and talk in nearly the same way, it's hard to connect with any of the three main characters the movie focuses on. The main villain in the film isn't particularly menacing (or memorable), and the most interesting characters in the film (a family that picks up the hitch-hiking Minions) only appear for a short time, and don't really figure into the plot at all. I kept hoping for them to step in during the finale, but they were only there as spectators, and were completely wasted.

 

Now, I should say Minions isn't a bad film, in that it's well animated, not offensively stupid, and is mercifully low on butt jokes and toilet humor. But that's the best that can be said about it, apart from it keeping my niece entertained for an afternoon (which in and of itself is well-worth nine bucks).

 

I suppose for what's effectively a disposable kid's film, expecting any more than that is asking too much. And given that it's already exceeded $640 million worldwide, my opinion doesn't really matter anyway.

 

It's easy to see how this movie came about. The Despicable Me films have grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide, and someone at Universal thought, "Hey, those Minions sure are popular - I bet a movie about them would be a huge hit!"

 

They weren't wrong.

 

But Minions still gets a 2/10.

1 Comment


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I completely agree with your review: Minions was entertaining, mildly funny, but ultimately forgettable.

 

It's the kind of movie you put on the DVD while reading a magazine (or online news): you tune out until a funny "good" part, watch the ensuing sketch, then tune out again; and on it goes.

 

-dZ.

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