Minions

Those little yellow Minions of Despicable Me have a movie of their own now. It's called Minions. What more can I say? A little more than one paragraph.

Minions (all voiced by co-director Pierre Coffin) have always followed the meanest characters around. But they have a nasty habit of accidentally killing them. Once they cost Napoleon Waterloo, the Minions head off to Antarctica. They live in security for the next century or so; but by 1968, their lack of Boss bums them out. So Minions Kevin, Stuart and Bob set off to find their next Master.

The three Minions discover Villain-Con, a secret convention for villains. They get hired by pioneering super-villainess Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock). Overkill wants the Minions to help her steal Queen Elizabeth's Crown. The Minions agree to help and drive her crazy in the process.

Whether you like the movie or not mainly depends on if you like the Minions. They're still the childish, gibberish-speaking creatures from the Despicable Me movies. However, the main Minions have distinct personalities: responsible one, impulsive one and good one. It's very useful for telling them apart.

The animation is nice and colorful. When Scarlet gets mad, the animators make her almost feral. Even though the Minions are near-indistinguishable, each Minion has a variation of that basic design. The background villains have their own unique designs. Either way, the character designers worked extra-hard on this film. The animated environments are great representations of the 1960's.

There's something for almost everyone. The Minions' antics will certainly entertain the kids. The adults will get a lot of the sight and historical gags thrown about. The soundtrack is made of Heitor Pereira's score and some old standards; those old standards are catchy when the Minions sing them.

Minions is harmless matinee fare and nothing more. There's nothing wrong with that; it's a simple story that speeds along at 91 minutes. Look elsewhere if you want an emotionally-resonant film.