Minions 2015

If you look up the phrase ‘milking the cash cow’ it simply says “see: Minions (2015)”.

I liked Despicable Me as much as anyone else and sure, the Minions were amusing as the inept sidekicks. However, for some reason beyond everyone’s control, the Minions became their own thing. Have some lunch boxes you can’t sell? Slap a Minion on there. Found an inspirational quote you like? Why not spice it up with a picture of a Minion!

It’s not entirely surprising then that this sort-of prequel to the franchise got the green light. It goes back and tells the origin story of the Minions, but for some reason ends up stuck in 1960s England. The story is a mess - the Minions are trying to find a new master but end up stealing the crown jewels and becoming king of England.

There’s enough material for a decent caper comedy but the critical error was forgetting to make it funny or entertaining. In fact, Minions is an irritant that makes you constantly want to turn it off. That’s quite an achievement really.

I have to give a nod to the production values - the animation looks really nice.

Aside from that, there’s nothing to like. It’s an annoying, humourless mess of a film.

http://benoliver999.com/film/2016/12/20/minions/

This is the prequel to the despicable me films, and follows the trials of a group of minions as they are on the hunt for their 'big boss' (of evil). The focus is on 3 specific minions (and a teddy bear called Tim), as they hunt and (in an evil way) set out to save the day.

I went into this film ready for a nice relaxing bit of fun that I can just ride for the next 90 minutes. There was a little concern over how this would play out, but that was mainly because the last CG film I saw was 'home', which is absolutely awful. Luckily, I re-watched 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs' which helped me get over that.

Could this film stand up against the others in the series though? Especially as the minions don't speak a language as such, rather a cobbled together set of words from various places.

Ultimately, this film actually did work quite well, it was funny and the minions style of classic visual humour worked really well. The cinema-full of kids seemed to really enjoy it, as did I. That said, it wasn't as good as I had hoped. I went in expecting something a little cleverer, not too much, but just something subtle to add a little more than the classic slapstick, this was sadly not the case. This lack of confidence in the audience went right up to the last scene where it deemed it necessary to tie into the future films a little too much. I would have loved an open ending, a little more like the classic tv shows where at the end of each episode they walked into the distance, looking for their next big boss whilst Willie Nelsons 'On the road again' is playing in the background. But alas no.

I don't mean to over-criticise this film though, it was fun, and suitable for all, which is always a hard thing to do. Also, when you compare with the other big CG hit this year (Home), it was so much better and more enjoyable. The narrator alone (Geoffrey Rush) was an excellent choice, and I would have loved more of him going through the film.

On thing to take-away is the great choice in voice over case. There are many excellent actors/actresses in the list, but none that you feel are purely there for star power. They could easily have gone for a member of One Direction or something which would have certainly made the film feel too much like a PR piece marketing towards kids (that is not to say that I haven't been seeing minions in every shop window in town right now)

My wifes review:
Ba-na-nas!!!
(yes, I know this isn't really a review, but it was said with such glee, I would take it as a positive review)

I went to see this despite all the hate the Minion characters receive online, and guess what? I had fun. It was a super lighthearted origin movie with a lot of loveable characters. I'd wager it to be a definite watch just for Scarlett Overkill alone, actually.

While I didn't super enjoy the original Despicable Me (and as such haven't seen the second film), I did enjoy this one more than that. At some points I felt myself beginning to chuckle and I'd instantly think "no, I shouldn't". But why, because some easily annoyed and ready-to-hate individuals on the internet might think I'm stupid for doing so? Screw those people. After resolving that in my head I ended up laughing quite a bit for the second half of the film. In a way, the characters getting mad at the Minions for just being Minions was as amusing as watching people blow up about them in real life. But, I guess that's expected of some silly little yellow creachers attracted to smug villains who want them to do things so obviously above them. The blow ups about the Minions in the movie were hilarious and seeing peoppe get frustrated at them were definitely some of the highlight moments - more-so than any of the slapstick hijinks.

Eh, not great. Watched this right after watching Despicable 1 and 2 and you can really see the difference in the screenplay--most of the jokes didn't land and things didn't make sense. My ten-year old was asking me questions I couldn't answer about the characters and motivations. I think someone watched the first two, said "hey let's make a Minions-only movie" and then tried to figure out why they were popular. I can tell you why they're popular--they talk funny and they get into funny situations. Can you make a whole movie out of that? I'd argue no. The animation was great and there is some inventive stuff in here, but I found my attention wandering. If felt like things were just "happening" to the minions, through no actions of their own, and the movie felt like an exercise in trying to spot connections to the "good" movies in the franchise. It's like going to Disney World and only searching for Hidden Mickeys on all the rides instead of having the rides themselves be good. Also, it's written for (and possibly by) six year olds, especially the ending that reminds you OVER AND OVER about the minions' connection to Gru. Not subtle, not funny. The last words describe their new boss as dastardly and "despicable," and my daughter said sarcastically "OH THAT'S GRU? WE HAD NO IDEA." Funnier than anything in the movie.

Bekannt wurden die gelben Wesen durch ihr Auftauchen in dem Film „Ich einfach unverbesserlich“ (sowie den Nachfolgern: Ich einfach unverbesserlich 2-3), wo sie Hauptcharakter Gru, zur Seite stehen. Es ist also keine Überraschung, dass sie mit einem eigenen Kinofilm belohnt wurden, in denen Sie die Hauptrolle spielen sollen. „Minions“ spielt zeitlich gesehen vor “Ich einfach unverbesserlich”, wenn man es genau nehmen möchte, 42 Jahre vor Gru. Dieser bekommt sogar am Ende des Films seinen Auftritt, allerdings noch als kleiner Junge, wobei selbst der Titel “Ich einfach unverbesserlich” von dem Erzähler genannt wird. Wo wir schon beim Erzähler sind, dieser taucht am Anfang und am Ende des Films auf, wodurch es so wirkt, als würde dem Zuschauer der ganze Film erzählt werden. Dies ist bei Filmen eine bekannte Methode und deshalb nichts neues. Die Sprache der Minions ist frei erfunden und nicht immer auf Anhieb zu verstehen, jedoch helfen dabei die Bewegungen der Minions, so dass man den ganzen Film über alles verstehen kann. Der Humor der Minions ist dabei sehr subtil und läuft eigentlich immer nach dem selben Schema ab, aber er klappt fast immer und sorgt für Lacher, lässt allerdings auch noch einiges an Raum nach oben. Wer einen tiefgründigen Animationsfilm sucht, ist mit den Minions an der falschen Adresse aber ich denke das kann man verkraften, da es ja genügend andere Vertreter gibt zu denen man in diesem Fall greifen kann. Man darf auch nicht vergessen, dass „Minnions“ ein Film für die ganze Familie darstellt und dieser Aufgabe wurde er im vollen Umfang gerecht.