Minions

RATING: D-

Hey, remember those two Despicable Me movies we all loved? Well, guess what? They made a spin-off film about the hilarious sidekicks in the background. A prequel, actually. About the Minions and their desire to serve an evil master, and where that takes them; particularly in the late 1960's. 

Specifically, this movie focuses on the Minions and their history of accidentally killing their evil masters (by the way, this flick contains one of the highest body counts I've ever seen in an animated film, even if almost all of the deaths are humorous). During a dark time for them in the 1960s where they are stuck in an ice cave with no purpose, three minions--Kevin, Stuart and Bob--volunteer to go and find a new master for them again. And they just happen to stumble upon an event called "Villain-Con" where they end up becoming servants to Scarlet Overkill; a control freak of a villain who has very specific goals (taking over England). 

For a film about normally hilarious sidekicks, this is actually a stunningly dumb film. There's very little plot, and a lot of it makes little sense (example: Scarlet ultimately turning on the Minions for no reason even when they actually get her the thing she wants). The humor is mostly incredibly cheesy, cheap or cringeworthy at times. In fact, ironically, most of the few actually humorous moments in the movie *don't* directly involve the Minions; namely, when Scarlet declares to a crowd of villains, "We have one thing that makes us all equal!" and a weird fish creature randomly yells, "We were all born with flippers! ... No? Just me?" 

What's sad--aside from the shocking lack of actually good humor involving the Minions--is how much time we spend around the annoying villain Scarlet; especially considering that young Gru himself actually shows up near the end (and pretty awesomely too), making you wonder why this movie wasn't actually about young Gru and the minions instead--which would've probably ultimately turned out better. 

When it's all said and done, this is actually one of the more stupid animated films I've seen recently; lacking plot or humor, this movie has almost nothing in its favor. Sure, it has the minions; but they're ultimately just victims of a cash-grab film that gives little thought to the film itself. The younger ones might like it, but pity the adults and anyone else who is forced to sit through it. Hopefully they'll be able to convince the kids to watch either of the two superior Despicable Me movies instead.