MOVIE INFO
The story of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's Minions begins at the dawn of time. Starting as single-celled yellow organisms, Minions evolve through the ages, perpetually serving the most despicable of masters. Continuously unsuccessful at keeping these masters-from T. rex to Napoleon-the Minions find themselves without someone to serve and fall into a deep depression. But one Minion named Kevin has a plan, and he-alongside teenage rebel Stuart and lovable little Bob-ventures out into the world to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow. The trio embarks upon a thrilling journey that ultimately leads them to their next potential master, Scarlet Overkill (Academy Award (R) winner Sandra Bullock), the world's first-ever female super-villain. They travel from frigid Antarctica to 1960s New York City, ending in mod London, where they must face their biggest challenge to date: saving all of Minionkind...from annihilation. (c) Universal
Rating: PG (for action and rude humor)
Directed By: Pierre Coffin, Kyle Balda
Written By: Brian Lynch
In Theaters: Jul 10, 2015 Wide
The early days of the Minions. Well, not exactly, they started back in the oceans. ©Universal Studios
So another movie with secondary characters from a popular animated movie series...
So yeah, this is the second after last years Penguins of Madagascar movie. As you you know the penguins weren't the main characters in the Madagascar series but were in fact side or secondary characters who's antics provided additional laughs. They were just lucky enough that the audience liked them more than the lemurs otherwise I'm sure we'd have gotten the Lemurs of Madagascar movie instead. But as much fun and cute as the trailer promised the Penguins of Madagascar was going to be when it finally came out it was sort of a disappointment to me. You can read my review of it HERE. I think I said it was too much of a good thing or something along those lines.
When the minions trailer came out I sort of thought that it was going to turn out pretty much the same way that the penguins movie did. It was going to be too much of a familiar thing. The penguins were fun when the antics and adventures they took on where short, fast and sweet but when it was expanded to a feature length movie it was just too much. I had the same reservations for the minions movie. The minions were always fun and adorable and funny in short bursts but a full movie's worth? I was worried.
So what is Minions all about? Well, if you haven't seen it then it's about the Minions. (OH YEAH THERE BE SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON. UNBELIEVABLE HOW YOU'RE READING THIS AND HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET?!) You get to find out their origins and how their whole purpose of existence is to serve a boss of some kind but preferably one who's a little evil maybe and wants to rule the world. Anyway, they find a few and then lose them when their bumbling mistakes and their good intentions end up putting their bosses in the grave until one day while serving Napoleon they end up blowing him up with a cannon which has Napoleon's entire army chasing them. They run and find refuge somewhere where there's much too much ice and summer never comes and stay there for quite sometime creating their own little happy town until the urge to serve a boss wells back up and one of them Kevin decides enough is enough and hatches a plan to go back out into the world to search for a new boss. While giving his inspirational gibberish speech he asks for volunteers but only gets one enthusiastic volunteer in Bob while Stuart gets volunteered by someone else.
So of the hapless trio go into the great big world looking for a boss and after a long and arduous journey filled with silliness they end up in New York. They bumble around for a while looking for a boss, getting lost, being distracted by things with bananas on them until Bob gets separated from the the others. Kevin and Stuart finally track him down in the 60's equivalent of a mall and they end up getting locked in there for the night. They make themselves at home in the home furnishings department and while watching something on TV they find out about Villain Con, a convention for villains from all over the world. So of course they have to get there since that's the best place to find a boss. Also while in New York they adopt their familiar uniform that we're used to, their denim overalls.
With no money or means of transport they decide to hitch a ride after learning how to do it from watching a hippie. They manage to get a ride to Florida when a family stops to pick them up. But this isn't a typical family. Turns out they're criminals too and are heading to Villain Con themselves. When they get there they meet the king or in this case queen of the world of villainy, Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock). She's there to search for the right henchmen to assist her in her next evil mission. So she sets up a test. Whomever is able to snatch the ruby she holds in her hand will be her next henchman. A lot try but the minions without really even trying are the ones who get the ruby when in fracas Bob accidentally swallows the ruby while Scarlet is left holding on to Tim Bob's stuffed teddy bear.
Scarlet takes them home to her mansion in London and there she introduces them to Herb Overkill (Jon Hamm) her husband who also invents the dastardly weapons that she uses. She also reveals to them their first task which is to steal the Queen's crown. So outfitted with Herb's inventions they head off to steal the crown which they almost succeed in doing until Bob accidentally pulls out the sword in the stone which legend says whomever succeeds in pulling it out of the stone will become ruler of England. So now Bob is King of England, which is hilarious. This of course infuriates Scarlet. But being the loyal and naive minions they are, Bob changes the law, abdicates the throne and lets Scarlet become the new Queen of England. But at the coronation while trying to meet with Scarlet to ask for forgiveness they screw up and drop a huge wrought iron chandelier on her. This makes her even madder and she instructs the guests at her coronation, which is made up entirely of villains, to hunt them down.
The three of them make a run for it and while trying to escape the mob they get separated. Kevin is the only one to escape while Bob and Stuart are caught and handed over to Scarlet who goes on TV threatening to kill them both if Kevin doesn't give himself up by morning. Kevin knowing that he has no other choice but to face Scarlet decides to arm himself, so he sneaks back into Herb's lab to steal some weapons but being a minion things don't go as planned and instead he locks himself up in one of Herb's invention that turns him into a giant minion.
Meanwhile, the rest of the minions after adopting a bunch of abominable snowmen as their boss and accidentally killing their leader when their song and dance routine drops a huge block of ice on his head, are making their way to England to find Kevin, Stuart and Bob.
Back in England, Kevin now a giant decides to find Bob and Stuart and save them. He finds them on a pile of bombs, dynamite and other explosive things. So he picks them up. Scarlet of course is nearby and spotting Kevin and an all out battle begins. It ends when Kevin swallows Scarlet's doomsday weapon and then just before it explodes he catches up to the escaping Scarlet and Herb and all three are caught in the explosion. This all happens with Bob, Stuart and the rest of the minions watching.
But this isn't that kind of movie. It's a minions movie so instead of blowing up into confetti Kevin returns to his normal size and floats down holding on to his over-sized overalls. At the end the crown is returned to the rightful Queen and the minions receive a couple of gifts from the Queen and Kevin is knighted. But before you think Scarlet is gone forever she shows up at the knighting and threatens the minions yet again but this time she's stopped by a young Gru and that's how the minions end up with Gru.
The end.
You can read a better write up for it here if you want to read more spoilers.
So was it good? Are the ratings it's gotten justified?
Yes, a resounding yes. I was very much surprised at how funny and entertaining it was. I was also surprised at how it didn't get at all tiresome watching Kevin, Bob and Stuart for 91 minutes. I really expected it to be something like the Penguins of Madagascar, it got really tiresome watching them after about the first half hour but it didn't happen while watching the Minions. This was a very fun movie to watch. The minions are adorable and funny the entire time and their gibberish is just entertaining. It's amazing how much you understand them without really understanding what they're saying.
If you're thinking that this movie is just for the kids, let me tell you it's not. There's enough going on here for both kids and adults. The kids will love the minions and their antics but there's enough of a story and easter eggs for the adults too. There's a ton of reference to 60's pop culture and the music is fab. Also watching the Queen of England kick ass and having her voiced by Jennifer Saunders was just over the top. Also I think they've done a tribute to the Full Monty too.
Then there's the whole look and feel of the movie. It's very nice. Done by the same team that did the Despicable Me series but this time I think they've made improvements because everything looks just perfect.
But the real gem of this movie is of course those lovable Minions, voiced by just one man Pierre Coffin. It's amazing how you don't get tired of watching them. It's also amazing how they've come up with their language. It's a mishmash of gibberish and languages from all over the world but when you sit there watching it you sort of understand them and they sound adorable. I didn't get tired of their gibberish even once. Also at the end when Bob is getting his token of appreciation from the Queen he says thank you like we do here in Malaysia and that's sort of cool. I'm wondering if they've done it the same way for each country, if you've seen it and you're from another country I'd love to hear from you.
So yeah, this is the second after last years Penguins of Madagascar movie. As you you know the penguins weren't the main characters in the Madagascar series but were in fact side or secondary characters who's antics provided additional laughs. They were just lucky enough that the audience liked them more than the lemurs otherwise I'm sure we'd have gotten the Lemurs of Madagascar movie instead. But as much fun and cute as the trailer promised the Penguins of Madagascar was going to be when it finally came out it was sort of a disappointment to me. You can read my review of it HERE. I think I said it was too much of a good thing or something along those lines.
When the minions trailer came out I sort of thought that it was going to turn out pretty much the same way that the penguins movie did. It was going to be too much of a familiar thing. The penguins were fun when the antics and adventures they took on where short, fast and sweet but when it was expanded to a feature length movie it was just too much. I had the same reservations for the minions movie. The minions were always fun and adorable and funny in short bursts but a full movie's worth? I was worried.
So they got chased by Napoleon's men then found an icy cave and decided to start their own civilization. ©Universal Studios
So what is Minions all about? Well, if you haven't seen it then it's about the Minions. (OH YEAH THERE BE SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON. UNBELIEVABLE HOW YOU'RE READING THIS AND HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET?!) You get to find out their origins and how their whole purpose of existence is to serve a boss of some kind but preferably one who's a little evil maybe and wants to rule the world. Anyway, they find a few and then lose them when their bumbling mistakes and their good intentions end up putting their bosses in the grave until one day while serving Napoleon they end up blowing him up with a cannon which has Napoleon's entire army chasing them. They run and find refuge somewhere where there's much too much ice and summer never comes and stay there for quite sometime creating their own little happy town until the urge to serve a boss wells back up and one of them Kevin decides enough is enough and hatches a plan to go back out into the world to search for a new boss. While giving his inspirational gibberish speech he asks for volunteers but only gets one enthusiastic volunteer in Bob while Stuart gets volunteered by someone else.
So of the hapless trio go into the great big world looking for a boss and after a long and arduous journey filled with silliness they end up in New York. They bumble around for a while looking for a boss, getting lost, being distracted by things with bananas on them until Bob gets separated from the the others. Kevin and Stuart finally track him down in the 60's equivalent of a mall and they end up getting locked in there for the night. They make themselves at home in the home furnishings department and while watching something on TV they find out about Villain Con, a convention for villains from all over the world. So of course they have to get there since that's the best place to find a boss. Also while in New York they adopt their familiar uniform that we're used to, their denim overalls.
Then they got bored. But that's how people get when they're stuck together for too long anyway. ©Universal Studios
With no money or means of transport they decide to hitch a ride after learning how to do it from watching a hippie. They manage to get a ride to Florida when a family stops to pick them up. But this isn't a typical family. Turns out they're criminals too and are heading to Villain Con themselves. When they get there they meet the king or in this case queen of the world of villainy, Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock). She's there to search for the right henchmen to assist her in her next evil mission. So she sets up a test. Whomever is able to snatch the ruby she holds in her hand will be her next henchman. A lot try but the minions without really even trying are the ones who get the ruby when in fracas Bob accidentally swallows the ruby while Scarlet is left holding on to Tim Bob's stuffed teddy bear.
Scarlet takes them home to her mansion in London and there she introduces them to Herb Overkill (Jon Hamm) her husband who also invents the dastardly weapons that she uses. She also reveals to them their first task which is to steal the Queen's crown. So outfitted with Herb's inventions they head off to steal the crown which they almost succeed in doing until Bob accidentally pulls out the sword in the stone which legend says whomever succeeds in pulling it out of the stone will become ruler of England. So now Bob is King of England, which is hilarious. This of course infuriates Scarlet. But being the loyal and naive minions they are, Bob changes the law, abdicates the throne and lets Scarlet become the new Queen of England. But at the coronation while trying to meet with Scarlet to ask for forgiveness they screw up and drop a huge wrought iron chandelier on her. This makes her even madder and she instructs the guests at her coronation, which is made up entirely of villains, to hunt them down.
So these three decided to find a new boss. They look perfectly capable, right? ©Universal Studios
The three of them make a run for it and while trying to escape the mob they get separated. Kevin is the only one to escape while Bob and Stuart are caught and handed over to Scarlet who goes on TV threatening to kill them both if Kevin doesn't give himself up by morning. Kevin knowing that he has no other choice but to face Scarlet decides to arm himself, so he sneaks back into Herb's lab to steal some weapons but being a minion things don't go as planned and instead he locks himself up in one of Herb's invention that turns him into a giant minion.
Meanwhile, the rest of the minions after adopting a bunch of abominable snowmen as their boss and accidentally killing their leader when their song and dance routine drops a huge block of ice on his head, are making their way to England to find Kevin, Stuart and Bob.
They picket with a bunch of hippies and Bob holds a sign with a catchphrase that didn't exist till the 90's. ©Universal Studios
Back in England, Kevin now a giant decides to find Bob and Stuart and save them. He finds them on a pile of bombs, dynamite and other explosive things. So he picks them up. Scarlet of course is nearby and spotting Kevin and an all out battle begins. It ends when Kevin swallows Scarlet's doomsday weapon and then just before it explodes he catches up to the escaping Scarlet and Herb and all three are caught in the explosion. This all happens with Bob, Stuart and the rest of the minions watching.
But this isn't that kind of movie. It's a minions movie so instead of blowing up into confetti Kevin returns to his normal size and floats down holding on to his over-sized overalls. At the end the crown is returned to the rightful Queen and the minions receive a couple of gifts from the Queen and Kevin is knighted. But before you think Scarlet is gone forever she shows up at the knighting and threatens the minions yet again but this time she's stopped by a young Gru and that's how the minions end up with Gru.
The end.
You can read a better write up for it here if you want to read more spoilers.
Who wouldn't pick these three hitchhikers? Unless of course you've got a phobia of yellow things of course. ©Universal Studios
So was it good? Are the ratings it's gotten justified?
Yes, a resounding yes. I was very much surprised at how funny and entertaining it was. I was also surprised at how it didn't get at all tiresome watching Kevin, Bob and Stuart for 91 minutes. I really expected it to be something like the Penguins of Madagascar, it got really tiresome watching them after about the first half hour but it didn't happen while watching the Minions. This was a very fun movie to watch. The minions are adorable and funny the entire time and their gibberish is just entertaining. It's amazing how much you understand them without really understanding what they're saying.
If you're thinking that this movie is just for the kids, let me tell you it's not. There's enough going on here for both kids and adults. The kids will love the minions and their antics but there's enough of a story and easter eggs for the adults too. There's a ton of reference to 60's pop culture and the music is fab. Also watching the Queen of England kick ass and having her voiced by Jennifer Saunders was just over the top. Also I think they've done a tribute to the Full Monty too.
Stuart may have just been in the city a couple of days but he sure does know how to live it up. ©Universal Studios
Then there's the whole look and feel of the movie. It's very nice. Done by the same team that did the Despicable Me series but this time I think they've made improvements because everything looks just perfect.
But the real gem of this movie is of course those lovable Minions, voiced by just one man Pierre Coffin. It's amazing how you don't get tired of watching them. It's also amazing how they've come up with their language. It's a mishmash of gibberish and languages from all over the world but when you sit there watching it you sort of understand them and they sound adorable. I didn't get tired of their gibberish even once. Also at the end when Bob is getting his token of appreciation from the Queen he says thank you like we do here in Malaysia and that's sort of cool. I'm wondering if they've done it the same way for each country, if you've seen it and you're from another country I'd love to hear from you.
When Bob became King of England he rode the corgi's. I'd do the exact same thing. ©Universal Studios
Anyway, the Minions was a very fun watch and I wouldn't mind watching it again. If you haven't seen it and you're a fan then what are you waiting for? If you're not a fan still go watch it because you'd be surprised, trust me. If you've got kids go take them. If you don't, go on a date and take them to watch it. Or go with a bunch of friends. What have you got to lose but a few hours that you'll spend laughing with the people you want to be with and walking out with a smile.
I give this movie a good 4 out of 5. And here's a word of advice, stay till the credits end and you'll be treated with the Kevin, Stuart and Bob doing their version of Revolution by The Beatles. If you didn't stay for it then, I don't think you're that much of a fan. Maybe.
Here's the trailer if you're not convinced.
Hopefully, Minions turns out to be a slightly better movie than Penguins of Madagascar.
ReplyDeleteHow are you Thomas? It was far better than Penguins of Madagascar. That movie became a little tedious/monotonous after the first half hour. Minions was entertaining and adorable throughout. Hope you've seen it already.
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ReplyDeleteI got tired of this joke before the movie ended, but I appreciate the gusto with which the filmmakers -- particularly Coffin, with his nimble vocalizations -- carried it out.