Starring: Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm
Since the dawn of time, the tiny yellow race of Minions (all
voiced by Pierre Coffin) has roamed the Earth, serving the duties of whatever
evil master they can find until they were forced to flee into the Arctic,
making a home for themselves there. Without anyone to serve, the Minions grew
listless until three such Minions; Bob, Kevin and Stuart went in search of a
new boss, eventually ending up in 60’s America and serving superstar super-villain,
Scarlett Overkill (Bullock).
Although Despicable Me (2010) was expected to be a success
upon its initial release, few probably would’ve expected quite the phenomenon
that the franchise would become, having come from a young animation studio,
Illumination, Despicable Me deserved its success as an intelligent, humorous
and surprisingly heartfelt family film with an equally-surprisingly
high-profile cast of actors (Steve Carrell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda
Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig and so on…) but another factor has to have been the
Minions, the playful and mischievous henchmen to the “villainous” Gru. Few were
probably shocked that the extremely popular creatures would spawn their own
effort and few will be shocked about what the film delivers. It knows its audience
and it caters to it, wholesale.
In equal ways a prequel and a spin-off to Despicable Me,
Minions delivers a little less in the way of sentiment or the heartfelt even
with the Minions being as easy to love as they are, and focuses much more on
the comedy. Practically every time a gag finishes, a new one is set up and even
though the film is short on belly-laughs, few of the jokes fail to be at least
amusing. The Minions are funniest as a group, scurrying about and crying out in
unison but our three lead Minions are distinct enough to sustain interest.
Kevin is the leader and straight-man, Stuart has the least definition but still
has some clowning and musical moments whilst Bob is the most child-like and the
most endearing. Director Pierre Coffin voices all of the Minions, but performs
them with enough variety to make individuals stand out even with the similar
voices.
There are prominent names in the supporting cast but most of
them seem rather unnecessary. Often the
voices of the actors aren’t distinctive enough (Jon Hamm) or they’re unrecognisable
(Michael Keaton). That isn’t to say that they do a bad job, but it feels like
casting well-known actors purely for the sake of publicity. Sandra Bullock,
however, does make for a great villainess in Scarlett Overkill and regularly
steals the show (not an easy feat in a movie with Minions) and Jennifer
Saunders also works well in a supporting role as Queen Elizabeth II.
The plot itself is pleasingly straight-forward and seems to
serve more as a vessel for providing the most gags rather than any real
investment in the characters. The 1960’s setting could have come off as
arbitrary but the bright, colourful and often angular animation style does
compliment nicely with the period even if many of the younger ones in the
audience wouldn’t be able to pick out the references to a pre-Disney Orlando or
a brief musical rendition of Hair. As expected the soundtrack is top-notch,
with music by The Doors, The Beatles and The Kinks (although a brief snippet of
Van Halen seems rather strange). Visually, the film is available in a 3D
format, but beyond the occasional insignificant effect, it’s a completely
pointless addition to the film, even one as action-packed and kinetic as
Minions is, even to its detriment with a finale that’s way too long.
There are seeds if some very interesting ideas in Minions.
The narration of Geoffrey Rush in the trailers and sporadically in the film,
gave hints of a nature mockumentary, whilst a montage during the film also
showed Minions traversing the globe, both of which would’ve been interesting
concepts for a feature film. As is, we get a sci-fi adventure comedy, faithful
to the franchise that spawned it but being very tentative and not taking any
risks beyond what works. All in all, the major pros and cons of Minions both
fall on the same thing. It sticks to what people know and love.
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