Movie reviews: What critics are saying about the ‘Minions’

MANILA, Philippines – The reviews for the new Minions movie are in.

The movie, which opens July 8 in the Philippines and July 10 in the US, stars those adorable frantic yellow sidekicks from Despicable Me, all intent on serving the most villainous masters in history. But when the Minions keep inadvertently getting rid of them, it’s up to 3 Minions to search for a new one, leading them to 1960s New York City. 

Along the way, the minions meet super villain Scarlet Overkill, who enlists them to work on a mission – helping Scarlet become the Queen of England. 

Let’s take a look at what some movie critics are saying:

Entertainment Weekly

Joe McGovern gives the film a C+, saying that while the minions’ antics were cute in the previous Despicable movies, they can’t hold an entire movie on their own. He also notes that a certain scene in the movie “teases a more subversive comedy about power worshipping and pack mentality,” but never fully realizes itself. Children will enjoy Minions, he says, but not their parents.

The Guardian

Mark Kermode from The Guardian found the movie hilarious, saying that Minions kept him “grinning and giggling” from its opening sequence to the end. “It’s gloriously silly but still pop-culture-literate stuff…packed with dizzyingly frenetic action and fabulously expressive verbal gobbledygook,” he adds.

IGN

Chris Tilly, writing for IGN, rates the movie a 6.5, because the movie focused too much on the human characters rather than the minions themselves, who “work best when left to their own devices.”

Tilly commends the film’s humor, which he says caters to both young and old audiences. He concludes, however, that “the whole endeavor feels like it lacks the courage of its convictions.”

The Hollywood Reporter

Boyd van Hoeij from The Hollywood Reporter finds that the movie fell a bit flat, especially when compared to its predecessors. Minions lacks a clear narrative, with the number of characters and locations introduced in the beginning of the movie – making it feel disjointed, he says.

He does, however, commend the film’s visuals, saying that the “kind of photo-realism in the cityscape backdrops…are much more detailed and realistic here than in previous outings.” He adds, “However, there are no particular scenes in which the use of 3D adds much.”

Variety

The minions “work better as supporting characters than as the main attraction,” says Variety‘s Peter Debruge, but that doesn’t mean that their popularity will peter out soon. Although Debruge admits that the Minions movie is “stronger on concept than story,” he still found the movie and the characters universally funny. He also acknowledges what a challenge it must have been to create the film, given the characters’ language and personalities, that those involved may have have had a difficult time incorporating all of their ideas. 

– Rappler.com