Minions: The Rise of Gru
It’s kind of surprising that 2015’s “Minions” worked for me, considering I was not a huge fan of “Despicable Me 2,” and a big part of that was the increased prominence of the yellow scene stealers from the 2010 film. With the “Despicable” films, Gru and the children needed to be the focus, and when you start to give more room to the comedy relief, it unbalances the film. “Minions” worked because it the minions were at the center of things. Now that we start to see their early time with Gru, would that magic still work?
The minions are full-on comedic anarchy, when deployed properly. We get personalities that come out, but mostly, we’re interested in them doing goofy stuff that brings to mind the slapstick comedy of the vaudeville era. In “The Rise of Gru,” they are trying to prove themselves as assets to their wannabe supervillain (voiced by Steve Carrell) as he tries to become a member of the Vicious 6, who has a slot open when they betray Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin), the group’s founder. Will he prove himself? Will the minions? We already know the answer to the second question.
This franchise has always felt like a poke in the arm at spy movies, and especially, the Bond franchise. Here, we get a riff on a Bond opening credit sequence, but we don’t get much else in terms of movie references. (Much of the film takes place in San Francisco- not one “Vertigo” or “Bullitt” nod?) Having said that, the film’s 1976 setting is effective, not just in some of the visuals, but in the music. (How much must Universal pay in licensing rights?) We get a lively, beautiful film to look at as Gru and the minions have multiple adventures going. And those adventures are amusing. Illumination gets a lot of crap for the tone of their movies, but I love looking at “The Rise of Gru,” and the visual invention we get, from the Criminal Records lair, with its listening booths, to a Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown. The latter section offers a nice bit of hilarity with the three main minions- Kevin, Stuart and Bob- training to learn Kung Fu after being saved from henchman by Master Chow (Michelle Yeoh). If you had said the first film with Yeoh I would see this year was a “Minions” sequel and not her acclaimed performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (which, I promise, I’ll get to soon), I would have told you you were nuts. Such is the nature of my year, I guess.
My appreciation of the “Minions” movies basically comes down to the fact that, at their best, their antics make me laugh. I don’t feel any big ideas at work in either films- they exist to put a smile on our faces. Seeing them with Gru here makes for an interesting dynamic, because they are essentially older than him (he’s 11 in this film). Whatever; these yellow guys entertain me, and “The Rise of Gru” entertained me. That’s all you need to know.
