Minions: The Rise of Gru

Here's the weird thing.  As these Minions movies have continued over the years, I've slowly started to understand their gibberish language.  The movies aren't subtitled, and they don't need to be, because the animation and the voice work by Pierre Coffin (who not only created the characters, but voices all of them) allow these strange little characters to express themselves in subtle ways.  Minions: The Rise of Gru is a silly film, as is to be expected.  But, for kid's entertainment, it works in a lot of equally silly ways.

The film serves as a prequel, with Despicable Me's Gru (voiced by a spirited Steve Carell) as an 11-year-old kid in 1976, dreaming of being a super villain one day like his idols, the Vicious 6.  At this point in the timeline, Gru is still building his secret headquarters under his mom's house, and is using his wicked ways to sneak into movies like Jaws.  Then, an opening within the Vicious 6 appears after their founder, Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin, sounding grumpy as ever), is dropped from the team.  Gru sees this as an opportunity to join the villains, but the current head of the organization, Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), is not impressed by the kid.  That's when Gru decides to prove himself worthy by stealing a magic amulet from the Vicious 6 that can bestow great powers upon the user.

This plot is more or less a loose thread to hang a series of antics on as Gru and his Minions try to stay ahead of the super villains, which include Jean-Claude Van Damme voicing a guy with a claw for a hand (named Jean Clawed, naturally), and a ninja nun named Nun Chuck (Lucy Lawless).  When Gru's life winds up in danger, three of his most faithful Minions decide to learn martial arts from a tiny acupuncturist (Michelle Yeoh) who is skilled in kung fu.  Cue the training montage, where the incompetent Minions seem to channel the classic Looney Tune shorts as they injure themselves and each other during the training.  The whole thing breezes right by, is largely harmless, and occasionally funny, with Carell getting off some good one liners, and the Minions themselves providing plenty of chances for slapstick.

Either you buy what Minions is selling, or you don't, and the movie never really slows down long enough for you to get bored.  It's constantly moving, but in a way that is not exhausting or overwhelming.  This is despite a chaotic climax that somehow involves all the main characters turning into monsters and animals for the final battle.  There really is a kind of inspired silliness to this enterprise.  It's a simple, fast-paced movie that you laugh at from time to time, and smile at more often as it plays out.  For all the celebrity voice cameos featured, it's rightfully the Minions themselves who get to carry the film, and the filmmakers know how to use them so that they didn't become annoying to me over time.  Probably because the movie is wise enough not to shove them in our faces, or make their antics tiring.

This is a movie with the attention span of a Tazmanian Devil whirling itself into a tornado through rocks and trees, and sometimes we need that.  Growing up, I would always feel happy when the familiar Looney Tunes theme music started up, because I knew fun was on the way.  I wouldn't be surprised if kids watching this feel the same way I used to as the opening titles play out. 

0 comments