The little yellow Minions have been around on Earth for quite some time. Their instinct is to find the biggest villain, serve him and thus survive. However, due to their clumsiness, they would often ruin the plans of their masters, including the Pharaoh, Dracula and Napoleon. They find refuge in a cave, but feel bored. Three of them—Kevin, Bob and Start—leave the cave and take on a journey to find a new purpose. They shipwreck in New York in the 1 9 6 0s, and decide to take a trip to Orlando for a Villain-Convention. There, the Minions are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, the first female villain, and her boyfriend, Herb. Scarlet plans to steal the crown of Queen Elizabeth of England. The Minions try to steal the crown, but flee from the guards, and pull out a sword from the stone, thereby being proclaimed as the new Monarchs of England. After a lot of commotion, the three Minions are reunited with the other Minions in London, and the Queen thanks them. They also meet Gru, still a kid.
A spin-off movie of the popular computer animated "Despicable Me" series, "Minions" are a fun and fast comedy of the absurd. The characters of yellow Minions never talk coherently, and instead just use random gibberish throughout, but therein lies the main problem of the film: all the best jokes arrive through the lines of supporting characters, and thus the supporting characters overshadow the Minions. The storyline is all over the place—the Minions go to New York, only to go to Orlando, only to go to London, when they could have simply landed in London right from the start—whereas the jokes are a "hit-or-miss" affair, since some ideas are hilarious, some are forgettable, yet writer Brian Lynch has such a contagious enthusiasm that it is easily able to gain sympathies of the viewers. The best jokes involve a Villain-Con (!); comical lines (when villain Scarlet Overkill gets a silly postcard from her lover Herb, she says: "I wanna dig up that William Shakespeare so he can see what true writing is.") or just plain funny sight gags (three minions standing on top of each other to feign they are a grown up, a woman, but the big goggles of the Minion in the middle "sticks" out in the pink sweater, as some sort of "fake buxom"). The voice actors in the ensemble live it up, while the design of Queen Elizabeth is surprisingly charming. "Minions" are like a fast revolving sushi bar: hundreds of dishes pass through the customers, hoping to hide the lesser dishes through sheer speed of exchange.
Grade:++
No comments:
Post a Comment