Just put on a happy face with MINIONS! With all the exuberant fun of a 1969 yellow happy face, MINIONS is guaranteed fun for everyone! Your heart will smile. Your face will smile. Your sides will ache with laughter. And let me tell you up front – stay to the very very end of the credits (*wink, wink*)!
The world fell in love with these scene stealing little yellow guys in the “Despicable Me” franchise and thanks to public demand, MINIONS are now front and center in their own movie. Still the same adorably hilarious single-celled yellow organisms we have come to know and love, we follow the birth of the MINIONS from the beginning of time as they journey through the ages doing what minions do best – serve others. Their goal? To serve the ultimate boss, an evil boss, the greatest villain ever!!
Unfortunately, luck hasn’t been on their side as just when they think they have found the best evil boss ever, he meets an untoward fate at the unassuming exuberant hands of the MINIONS themselves; be he T-Rex falling into a fiery volcano or Early Man getting squashed by a rock, or even Dracula being exposed to daylight during his 357th surprise birthday party. Forced into an Arctic exile after causing Napoleon to lose the Battle of Waterloo, the MINIONS are initially happy but quickly fall into a deep depression. They need a boss. Stepping forward with a solution to the problem is Kevin. He will go out into the world and find a boss. Joining him in his quest are volunteers Stuart and Bob. As they make their way across the frozen tundra, through Europe, across the oceans to the United States, they ultimately find the answer to their prayers – Scarlett Overkill, the greatest super-villainess ever.
Given the jabberwocky gibberish linguistics of the MINIONS, of which all we non-MINIONS can really understand are words “boss”, “banana”, “kumbaya” and “Bob”, Geoffrey Rush initially serves as our “One Upon A Time” storytelling guide with voiceover narration that supplements the laugh-out-loud funny slapstick visuals; that is until the MINIONS meet the Nelsons and ultimately find themselves at Villain-Con, the single biggest gathering of villains in the world! Here is where they will find, woo and win, Scarlett Overkill as their bad-ass boss. And this is where the fun really starts.
Directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda from script by Brian Lynch, the laughs never stop as they take us from one crazy adventure to the next while providing backstory, action, heartwarming cuteness and, of course, evil daring-do. Captivating with cartoon silliness, Coffin and Balda deliver what would easily match the live action slapstick antics of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy or The Keystone Cops. From International Villain Con to plans to steal Queen Elizabeth’s crown in the Tower of London to wacky James Bond-esque gadgets designed by Scarlet’s 60’s mod and madcap husband Herb, no stone is left unturned and political correctness goes out the window. And the film is all the better for it. The only agenda here is entertainment, laughter and silly goofy fun!
Through dialogue and visuals, adults are treated to tongue-in-cheek cultural touchstones from politics to The Beatles while those in the workforce will relate in spades to the boss-from-hell scenarios Kevin, Stuart and Bob are subjected to by Scarlet. But, of course, all of this leads up to the inevitable meeting between MINIONS and Gru. Animation is bright, saturated and engaging with clean, simple rounded lines (but for villains whom all seem to have something very pointy in their design) and nicely defined color blocking honing in on primary and secondary colors on the color wheel, all of which is enhanced with judiciously designed and utilized 3D.
Sandra Bullock is a pure delight voicing Scarlet Overkill. You can almost see her wringing her hands in evil delight with every oily word uttered. Michael Keaton and Allison Janney are pure fun as the Nelsons, but Ozzie and Harriet they aren’t as the Nelsons give our boys a ride to Villain Con with a little bank heist thrown in for good measure along with way. As Scarlet’s genius paramour Herb, Jon Hamm is smooth as silk and gives a mod spin to his “Mad Men” Don Draper persona. But the real voice talent is director Pierre Coffin who voices the MINIONS themselves.
Soundtrack just elevates the fun even higher with tunes spinning from The Turtles, The Beatles, Rick Springfield, Jimi Hendrix, K.C. & The Sunshine Band, The Kinks, and of course, Donovan’s signature “Mellow Yellow” and a MINIONS voiced Beatles “Revolution. A must own for your summer playlist!
Let the MINIONS be your master! They’re simply irresistible!
Directed by Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Written by Brian Lynch
Voice cast: Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Pierre Coffin, Geoffrey Rush (narrator)
