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The Minions
are some of the most lovable creatures in children’s movies. Illumination Entertainment, directors
Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, writer Brian Lynch, and musician Heitor
Pereira deserve high praise for
making a film that is truly entertaining, uplifting, and insightful about human
beings, with all accompanied by delightful music from the sixties. The very premise of the adorable
minions searching all around the world for an evil leader makes one smile. And the fact that we can only decipher
a part of what they are saying (made up of Spanish, French, English and
blabber) and still know exactly what they mean is fascinating. Also remarkable (especially for young
children who have already gotten a bad reputation) is the pride shown by those
who get the label of villain.
Minions
serves as a prequel to their appearance in the Despicable Me series, and here, Geoffrey Rush narrates their
origins and history up to the 1960’s.
The Minions have finally found a home they love after being banished to
Antarctica (in The Despicables 2),
but are distressed because they can’t keep a leader. They have lost their previous leader, super-villain Gru, and
every time they think they’ve found a replacement, something happens to make
him/her/it disappear. Then Kevin
has a bright idea. He will go out
into the wide world and search for the perfectly despicable leader and then they’ll
all be happy and motivated again.
He recruits two Minions to follow him: One-eyed Stuart and tiny Bob. They manage to get to
New York City, but get a tip about Villain Con soon to take place in Orlando, an ideal place to find a despicable leader. It’s 1968 when it’s popular for hippies
to hitch rides, which seems like a good idea for them, and after several futile
attempts, they’re on their way when a family stops to pick them up.
The Nelsons (Keaton and Janney as parents) are
not an ordinary family; they’re headed to Villain
Con in Orlando, and have to stop along the way for funds. After robbing a bank in colorful masks,
they elude the police in a wild car chase. Ultimately, they deliver the trio to Villain Con and part company, although the Nelsons will see them again from time to time. And indeed they do find a potential,
Scarlett Overkill (Bullock) who takes pride in her evilness and has challenged
a huge audience of fans to take a valuable stone from her hands, the reward for
which will be a position as one of her henchmen. After a major skirmish among the aspirers, it turns out that
Bob coughs out the stone to everyone’s amazement. Thereupon, Scarlett
and her husband Herb (Hamm) take the three Minions to their swanky home and
give them their charge. They are
to steal the crown of the Queen of England, something Scarlett has yearned for
all her life. And to help them,
Herb gives them three of his inventions (mechanical limbs that extend out
endlessly, a lava-shooting gun, and a cap). The cap is hilarious because it looks like a round hot water
bottle, but when it inflates and spins around like a globe, it puts the viewer
into hypnosis. All of these items
will come in handy when the entourage travels to London to carry out the evil
deed where they will encounter major threats of imprisonment and even death.
Minions
has received only mediocre ratings from critics, but I enjoyed it a lot, and do
think the general public might as well.
My only reservation is the apparent acceptance of the characters’
getting away with deeds that are sometimes illegal, but these aren’t blatant
enough that children will get the idea it’s all right to copy them.
Charge of the Minions.
Grade: B By Donna
R. Copeland
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