Minions

The best things to come out of the Despicable Me franchise are the minions. The tiny yellow henchmen are the source of many laughs with their childish antics and slapstick humor, making them an easy choice for their own spin-off film. A little bit of minion goes a long way, however, and an entire film devoted to the banana loving creatures can be a bit much.

Since the beginning of time, minions have been simple creatures with a singular purpose; "to seek out and serve the most despicable master they can find." They’ve had many evil master of the centuries, but their incompetence often leads to their master’s demise. The minions soon become restless after decades go by without a master, so Kevin decides to embark on an adventure with his two companions, Stuart and Bob, to find the evilest person in the world. Their journey brings them to Villain-Con in New York where they meet the supervillain Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock). In an test of allegiance, Scarlet has the minions steal the Queen of England’s crown so she can take over as ruler. Naturally, it doesn’t go over too smoothly for the Kevin, Stuart, and Bob.

Minions relies on the same humor audiences saw with Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2, the only difference being that there is no Gru (Steve Carell) to herd and direct them. They’re lost without a despicable master to guide them, and what little story there is suffers greatly. The film takes place in 1968, for instance. It’s an odd choice because most of the pop culture jokes revolve around England in the 60’s and will no doubt go over the majority of kids’ heads. Minions feels more adult in this manner, but the goofball antics of Kevin, Stuart, and especially Bob create this weird dichotomy that will satisfy neither children nor their parents.

It’s easy to have too much of a good thing, and Minions is clearly a prime example of that. Their incoherent gibberish and playful demeanor quickly wears thin, and the story isn’t developed enough to keep the momentum going. It’s all rather dull as I kept waiting for something/anything to happen on screen that would make me laugh after the initial 10 minutes of exposition. Scarlett Overkill is about as generic a villain as them come who wants to rule the world with her inventor husband Herb (Jon Hamm). Why an entire country would let whoever has possession of the crown rule is a mystery, but then again, the story isn’t really about her all that much anyway. It’s about her little yellow henchmen.

Minions does deliver a few laughs that kids will enjoy, but there’s not much else to it. The minions may be the best characters from Despicable Me, but give them their own film and it ends up being the weakest of the franchise. Their adorably evil nature can only take them so far.