You’ve seen the social media memes, unless you’ve been hiding in a cave, and most will, no doubt, have laughed at their antics in the two animated feature films of Despicable Me. Now evil’s greatest helpers, the Minions, are back for a feature of their own.
Returning to prehistoric days through to 20th century London, this prequel to the Despicable Me franchise traces the history of the Minions whose sole purpose is to serve the most evil villain available. From dinosaurs to Napoleon, they traverse the planet eager to obey but accident prone enough to kill almost every boss they’ve had.
After a prolonged period without a villainous boss, the Minions fall into a deep, directionless depression until one brave soul, Kevin, teams with Stuart and cute young Bob to brave the new world of 1960s New York in search of a new criminal master. There they find Scarlett Overkill, the first female supervillain, who apprentices them to help her steal the Queen of England’s crown and ultimately take over the world.
With a stellar voice cast including Geoffrey Rush as the narrator, Sandra Bullock as Scarlett Overkill, Jennifer Saunders as the Queen, and Pierre Coffin providing the gibberish voices of the our three heroes, this is one zippy comedy with a large scale plot and an even larger heart.
Coffin co-directs with Kyle Balda, based on a very witty screenplay by Brian Lynch. There’s so much to like about this film that it’s difficult to narrow it down. For the kids, the crazy antics and colourful characters keep them fully engaged and laughing. For the adults, no humour is too purile, and there’s so many beautifully placed cultural references of the era, including a sly nod to The Beatle’s famous Abbey Road album cover.
Although not a musical, there are some delightful, short musical numbers, mostly sung in the Minion’s gibberish language. Watch out for period songs including Happy Together, Hair, the theme to The Monkees, Revolution, Got to Get You Into My Life and more. Even the closing titles have hits like Mellow Yellow to sing along to.
The animation is as bright and fine as expected for those who have seen the Despicable Me films. The 3D effects are sometimes blurry through the swift action scenes, but the animators make the most of some old fashion 3D thrills which aren’t often seen anymore.
If you’ve got a soft spot for the Minions then their self-titled film is one you will surely love. If you’ve not had the pleasure of meeting evil’s best buddies, now is your opportunity. You’re sure to go bananas.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
Rating out of 10: 9
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