Minions

MINIONS

Directors : Pierre Coffin & Kyle Balda

Year : 2015

Genre : Animation

Rating : ***1/2

 

After a two year absence from the big screen, the dungaree wearing, gobbledegook speaking, banana obsessed henchmen are back in 'Minions', the incredibly charming and often hilarious prequel to the popular and quite terrific 'Despicable Me' movies. Taking place 45 years before Gru, 'Minions' sees Kevin, Stuart and Bob under the command of the sultry but sinister super-villain Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock) who plans to steal the crown and make herself the Queen of swinging sixties England.

From it's opening few seconds, 'Minions' is filled to the brim with wonderfully silly slapstick and insightful pop culture references and while it may not be as consistently funny as 2013's 'Despicable Me 2', (the minions certainly work better on their own than with a human co-star), it still provides plenty of solid laughs and bagfulls of innocently cheeky entertainment. The delightful minions, wonderfully voiced by co-director Pierre Coffin, are as daft and adorable as ever while Sandra Bullock has a great deal of fun playing the evil Scarlet. 

It may not be completely consistent - the beginning 10 minutes of the film which sees the genesis of the minions are by far it's strongest and funniest. But thanks to the infectious charm of the yellow blobs themselves, 'Minions' never loses it's innate joy and sense of child-like silliness. Fans of the 'Despicable Me' franchise are sure to be pleased with the film while newcomers should be equally entertained by the unrelenting goofiness of it all. You'd be bananas to miss it!