Minions is a spinoff of the Despicable Me Franchise focusing on the Origin and Adventures of the the Minions, Illuminations yellow creatures the Minions.
The despicable Me Movies are these very fun, funny movies but they have heart to them as they touch family, what it means to be a family and for Gru what it means to be a father. Probably the most popular thing about these movies were the Minions and with the success of the movies and marketability of the minions it seems like it was inevitable that they would get their own movie.
Our Hero's
The result is a movie that is not necessarily bad but does not really have the heart of the Despicable me movies. The humour is there but there characters are not as strong and in the case of the antagonists they are kind of all over the place. In terms of characters there is not too much to talk about Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm are the Overkills who end up being a bit overkill at times and Pierre Coffin is the voice behind the minions who also happens to the director. The main minions Kevin, Bob and Stuart are pretty separate, have pretty well defined personalities for things that don’t talk properly.
Story is probably the weakest point, I get it’s a kids movie but it gets pretty silly and does not really justify why things are happening beyond I guess minions make this funnier. For the most part the movie consists of 3 main things story beats, tech demos and minions short films. There are some set piece moments here and there but it is mostly those 3 things. So the movie ends up not flowing too well being a bit inconsistent. The individual parts are not necessarily but and some parts would be great as standalone short films but it's not a terribly cohesive movie. Unlike the despicable me movies which came together very well, this movie is a bit contrived and seems to just be an excuse to make minions short films.
Overall Minions ends up being a not so great, it's not bad but definitely skews more to kids than the other movies and not in a way that is of much value. Even if you really liked despicable me I would not recommend rushing out to see this.
