Minions

Starring: Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Geoffrey Rush & Jennifer Saunders

Directed by: Pierre Coffin & Kyle Balda

Rating: ★★★

Minions are everywhere at the moment. Rising to international fame and absurd levels of popularity after featuring in the movie Despicable Me and its sequel, it was inevitable that they were going to get their own spin-off- if only for merchandise sales.

Millions of Minions!

And as theoretically and morally opposed to the idea of unlimited sequels, prequels, spin-offs and reboots as I am, Minions is actually an enjoyable prequel/spin-off that has mass appeal not only to its intended target audience, but also to the adults forced against their will to accompany their children to the cinema.

The Minions get lost in New York...

Although, saying that, a lot of the audience were teenagers and adults who did not have children with them, which goes to show how successful the Despicable Me franchise has become.

Stuart really wants a banana...

In fact, since DespicableMe 2 is currently the 25^th highest grossing movie worldwide, of all time, it’s clearly not just kids.

The beginning of the movie chronicles the rise of the Minions...

Set in 1968, after a lifetime of being unable to find a suitable villainous master, Kevin (Coffin) decides that it is time for the Minions to leave their cave in Antarctica and find a supervillain they can all assist.

The Minions head to Orlando...

Two other Minions, Stuart and Bob (both also voiced by Coffin), join him on his quest, and the three eventually head to Orlando, where Villain-Con, a convention for international supervillains, is being held.

Road trip!

It is here that they meet Scarlet Overkill (Bullock) the world’s most famous and successful supervillain.

Scarlet Overkill is the best of the worst...

After becoming her henchmen, they all travel to London in order to steal Queen Elizabeth II’s crown so that Scarlet can become the new Queen of England.

The Minions travel around the world in style!

Although I wouldn’t exactly call myself a fan of either the first two movies or the Minions themselves, Minions is a very entertaining, very funny, very excitingly paced movie that has lots of action and adventure.

All hail King Bob!

There are jokes aimed at both children and adults, and the story, once it gets going, is engaging.

Scarlet and her inventor husband Herb.

The Minions themselves are incredibly likeable, Scarlett Overkill is excellent as a hammy and devious villain, and Queen Elizabeth II (Saunders) is brilliantly hilarious.

Scarlet wants to become Queen of England!

There are a lot of great moments in the movie, including when the Minions are given weapons by Scarlet, the Villain-Con, the horse and carriage chase and, most importantly, the spectacular finale.

The weapons the Minions get are really funny- and clever.

There’s also a surprise at the end that will excite fans of the first two movies.

Stuart loves fire hydrants...

The fact that the film is set in the 60s adds a fun retro quality to it, which works really well with the unique animated style.

The Minions travel far and wide to find a master...

Minions may have only been made to cash in on the commercial success of Gru’s yellow henchmen, but at least it’s an enjoyable movie that is fun to watch and does have some very original moments that are both exciting and entertaining.

Bob, Kevin and Stuart have a very fruitful expedition!

Although most people would like the movie for just for the Minions themselves, I’m not really enamored by them, so for me the selling point of Minions is that is has a strong and interesting plot, a wonderful supporting characters that make the entire movie a thoroughly enjoyable and amusing action-packed family blockbuster.