Jack Goes Confidential: Gibberish-Spewing ‘MINIONS’ Short On Charm In Prequel

Universal’s MINIONS should—and probably will—storm the box office this weekend to the tune of $100 million-plus in north American ticket sales…

But will it hold up the way Pixar’s INSIDE OUT is performing?

I don’t think so.

So let’s get beyond the hype and ask why.

First off the story line for this prequel to the hugely popular DESPICABLE ME franchise is pretty thin.

This computer-generated movie starts out at the dawn of time as our little deviled egg-like characters evolve through the ages in search of new villains to serve.

A minions history lesson of sorts.

Well they find super bad ‘Scarlett Overkill’ voiced by Sandra Bullock who, alongside of her inventor husband (Jon Hamm), hatches a plan to take over the world.

Suffice it to say lead minions Kevin, Bob and one-eyed Stuart eventually save the day—and for that matter all of Minion-Kind.

The 91 minutes of PG rated shenanigans then eventually lead to—you guessed it—the arrival of Gru.

One big questions remains.

Can these gibberish-spewing and havoc raising Knights in Shining Denims actually carry the picture? Or were we all better off when minions simply were the supporting cast?

MINIONS plays extremely young with five to eleven year olds probably being most appreciative of the slapstick proceedings.

Which makes one wonder why the filmmakers so heavily laid a 60’s playlist on the film’s soundtrack.

We’re talking The Doors, The Turtles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones—and Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow”

(And yes, I get the Mellow Yellow connection…..)

All that plus additional voice talents from the likes of Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan with Geoffrey Rush supplying the narration.

So DOES this spin-off work?

It does up to a point, but it’s no DESPICABLE ME. It misses the charm and heart of the previous films—and for that matter of INSIDE OUT.

MINIONS offers comic relief to a score of C+.

(Reviewed in 3D at Cinemark, Merriam)