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Minions: The Rise of Gru
(Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment)
By Lucas Allen
2010’s “Despicable Me” introduced the world to Gru and the Minions, spawning a trilogy of films plus a 2015 spinoff/prequel belonging to the worldwide phenomenon of those little yellow sidekicks. That film gets a sequel of its own, “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” once again doubling down on the Minions’ continuing adventures. In this era of obnoxious animated films aimed squarely for the younger audience, these Minions are still the leaders of this domain.
Taking place in 1976, 11-year-old Gru (Steve Carell) dreams of being the greatest supervillain ever with the help of the recently hired Minions (Pierre Coffin) in their newly built secret lair underneath his house, where he lives with his mother (Julie Andrews). He also dreams of joining the notorious villains group the Vicious 6, coincidentally kicking out their longtime leader Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin) after stealing a mystical amulet. The remaining five members including Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), Stronghold (Danny Trejo), Nun-Chuck (Lucy Lawless), Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren), and Jean-Clawed (Jean-Claude Van Damme) soon hold auditions for a new member. When Gru makes the audition, the group instantly rejected him before he uses a gadget given to him by a young Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) to steal the amulet from them.
But things go wrong when newbie Minion Otto trades away the amulet for a pet rock, Gru gets kidnapped by Wild Knuckles, and the Vicious 6 hunts down for the missing amulet. While Otto chases the amulet worn by a biker (RZA), Kevin, Stuart, and Bob search for their “mini boss” through the streets of San Francisco. The three minions soon learn kung fu from an old woman named Master Chow (Michelle Yeoh) as the night of the Chinese New Year nears, where the amulet unleashes such unspeakable power.
Whereas the first Minions film was about a quest for a new leader, this one feel more like a feature-length version of one of those mini-movies from any of their DVDs. It’s still a “Despicable Me” prequel with callbacks to the earlier films, but the filmmakers rely a little too much on a speedy pace throughout its 90-minute runtime. Story and characterization become second nature to comedy and action with the Minions devoting their scenes to both fart jokes and dance scenes. Regardless, it’s all harmless fun for the kids, but there’s so much for the parents to tolerate.
Granted, the groovy look of the 70s shines brightly in the animation. The scenery looks very appealing for both the younger audience and the older crowd who are nostalgic about the decade. The film’s biggest issue is in its heavily rushed third act. It seems the creators were trying to bridge the many storylines together, but ended up looking like random occurrences coming together.
While there isn’t much in the story to write home about, the voice acting remains pretty good for one of these films. Carell nicely adjusts his Gru character to sound younger though you’ll sometimes hear the adult version coming through. Arkin has some good moments of his own with his brand of grandfatherly humor. Other voice highlights include Henson giving an over-the-top performance, Yeoh once again convincingly playing a kung-fu master, and fans of “Xena: Warrior Princess” will delight in hearing Lawless recreate her iconic yell in her vocal performance.
In one simple conclusion, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” is what it is. Nothing more, nothing less than what you expect from the people at Illumination Entertainment.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: PG (for some action/violence and rude humor)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 2.75 Stars (Out of Four)
