Minions

When the first Despicable Me movie came out in 2010, the best things about it were Steve Carrell’s whacked-out Transylvanian-on-steroids accent, the zippy retro 50s design of the secret lairs and freeze rays, and, of course, the Minions, the gibbering, yellow little spuds in goggles and overalls who worked for Gru, the super-villain intent on stealing the moon. Naturally because of their popularity, when the sequel came out, the Minions had a much more prominent role in both the story and in the marketing campaign. Now as a part of this logical progression, the Minions have eclipsed the supervillain they work for and are no longer playing second banana, so to speak, in their very own spinoff movie.  Minions is a prequel to the Despicable Me movies and is the origin story of the seemingly endless band of chattering, banana-colored henchmen.

Let’s not think about it too hard, but apparently, the Minions are an ancient race of immortal, more or less indestructible beings who are naturally drawn to serve whoever or whatever is the biggest, baddest villain around. Prehistoric minions ride along with a t-rex as it terrorizes other, smaller dinosaurs. Cave Minions work to entertain the Abominable Snowman. French Minions serve Napoleon as he tries to dominate Europe. You get the idea. 

After accidentally shooting Napoleon with a cannon, the Minions go through a dry spell and don’t have a decent villain to serve. Because their purpose in life is to assist in evil plots, they become listless and bored. So the heart of the story is the tale of three Minion pals who venture out to find a new big bad boss for their tribe. They travel to 1960s era London after they get a job working for Scarlett Overkill, a supervillain with a bouffant hairdo and a high tech dress that transforms into everything from a bomb shelter to a rocket ship. 

The Minions' job is to steal Queen Elizabeth’s crown because Overkill has wanted to be a princess with a crown ever since she was a little girl. This goes along with the Despicable Me films’ thesis that all villains are simply softies motivated by bad childhood memories.   The London setting ends up being one of the film’s most reliable sources for jokes even if they’re not terribly original. Everyone drinks tea, including cops in the middle of a high speed chase, and Queen Elizabeth herself gets mixed up on a full-on brawl with the Minions and delivers a Randy the Macho Man Savage flying elbow to one of our trio of little protagonists. One of the Minions becomes the King of England for eight hours. It’s all ridiculous but entertainingly so.

The voice work is pretty standard. Sandra Bullock does fine as Scarlett Overkill but her practical, girl-next-door charm fails to give the villain any real oomph. Jon Hamm does a better job as Herb, Scarlett’s groovy inventor husband. As an actor, Hamm has never shied away from totally going for it and that abandon comes through somewhat here.

With their spongy, yellow bodies, the Minions have always reminded me a little of Hostess Twinkies, and I think that may be an appropriate simile for the entire movie. The Minions movie is like a Twinkie – not very substantial, enjoyable while it lasts but not terribly memorable, nourishing, or distinguishable from hundreds of others just like it. Minions is fun and will make your kid giggle. It won’t totally bore you if you take your family to see it to escape the summer heat, but it might leave you hungry for something more substantial and memorable later.