{"id":96,"date":"2017-05-06T07:27:15","date_gmt":"2017-05-06T07:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/2017\/05\/06\/httptheblurb-com-aureviewsminions-movie-review\/"},"modified":"2017-05-06T07:27:15","modified_gmt":"2017-05-06T07:27:15","slug":"httptheblurb-com-aureviewsminions-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/httptheblurb-com-aureviewsminions-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Minions – movie review"},"content":{"rendered":"

The evil genius Gru (voiced by Steve Carrel) and his loyal and haphazard minions became a global success with the emergence of Despicable Me<\/i> in 2010 and its sequel three years later. A large part of the films\u2019 pleasure was provided by the now familiar little yellow poppets with goggle eyes and denim overalls, who hardly spoke. So, it only seemed like a matter of time before they would get their own gig.<\/p>\n

\"Minions-01\"The minions are ageless and without a specific language, although in Minions <\/i>they are more readily understood because the occasional English word slips out here or there. Importantly, they remain subversive and childlike and the comedy is still more visual than verbal. We go back to the dawn of time when the minions first followed the most nefarious bad guy they could, in this case the most ferocious dinosaurs. And as the story would have it, they couldn\u2019t but help themselves in inadvertently orchestrating their master\u2019s downfall. It was then a case of latching on to the next worst creature and so on and so forth. Basically, they practiced villain hopping. Even Count Dracula gets a look in. It is, indeed, a very clever back-story.<\/p>\n

Eventually, when one tyrant after another is eliminated, the little yellow mischief-makers find themselves in London. It is the Swinging Sixties and they are trailing the coattails of the world\u2019s first female super villain, Scarlett Overkill (the voice of Sandra Bullock). She wants to become Queen of England no less and engages the minions as her henchmen.<\/p>\n

The film concentrates its energies on three of her yellow followers in particular. Kevin is the big brother, and if he weren\u2019t around, the others would have ceased to exist long ago. Stuart is the rebellious guitar-playing teenager type and Bob is the wide-eyed innocent who is so excited to help out, but then gets distracted.<\/p>\n

The best parts of Minions<\/i> come at the start and the end. I greatly appreciated the way the filmmakers managed to effectively turn the movie into a prequel to Despicable Me<\/i>.<\/p>\n