Minions: The Rise Of Gru Movie Review: The Franchise Has Very Little To Offer, But Its Adorable And Emotional
Minions: The Rise Of Gru follows an 11 and half-year-old Gru trying to make his name in the world of villains and how he assembled his team of a scientist, and his yellow indestructible henchmen minions.
Star
Cast:
Steve
Carell,
Taraji
P.
Henson,
Michelle
Yeoh,
RZA,
Jean-Claude
Van
Damme
Director:
Kyle
Balda
Available
In
Theatres
Language:
English
Duration:
87
minutes
Plot:
Minions:
The
Rise
Of
Gru
follows
a
11-and-a-half-year-old
Gru
trying
to
make
his
name
in
the
world
of
villains
and
how
he
assembled
his
team
of
a
scientist,
and
his
yellow
indestructible
henchmen,
minions.
Review:
The
concept
of
Minions:
The
Rise
Of
Gru
is
essentially
the
same
as
its
predecessors,
something
that
will
remind
fans
of
Gru's
adorable
relationship
with
his
daughters
and
the
minions.
The
film
also
gives
unexplored
lore
about
how
minions
and
Gru
got
together.
The
origin
of
a
supervillain
who
is
also
emotional
and
humorous,
but
unfortunately,
the
level
of
humour
has
deteriorated.
Set
in
1976
California,
the
film
begins
with
the
story
of
Gru's
(Steve
Carell)
favourite
villain
group
and
how
they
come
to
recruit
a
new
guy
into
their
group.
Gru
sees
it
as
his
chance
to
become
a
member
of
the
evil
supergroup,
the
Vicious
6,
however,
given
his
age
they
don't
take
him
seriously.
To
prove
his
point,
Gru
steals
their
greatest
possession
an
emerald
stone
with
ancient
zodiac
powers,
and
waits
for
them
to
praise
him.
However,
not
everything
goes
as
planned
because
minions
aren't
really
that
reliable.
The
Vicious
6
decide
to
take
down
Gru,
meanwhile,
their
former
member
elderly
Wild
Knuckles
(Alan
Arkin)
who
was
supposedly
killed
also
returns
to
steal
the
zodiac
stone.
While
the
stone
is
with
neither
of
them,
the
minions
set
out
on
their
own
adventure,
one
to
find
the
stone
he
lost
and
the
others
to
kid
Gru
who
has
been
kidnapped
and
chaos
ensues
till
the
end.
The
makers
have
also
included
a
lot
of
era-appropriate
callbacks
from
costumes,
music
and
the
setting
including
a
step-by-step
video
reel
of
how
to
leave
kung-fu.
It
wasn't
the
best
moment
but
it
wasn't
the
worst
either.
I
wished
to
get
past
it
but
Asian
culture
was
pretty
central
to
the
film,
given
the
stone
did
have
powers
of
the
Asian
Zodiac
Guardians.
The
makers
didn't
even
bother
to
call
it
Chinese,
throughout
the
movie,
it
is
just
Asia.
Carell
is
amusing
as
ever
with
his
high-pitched
voice,
and
the
minions
voiced
by
Pierre
Coffin
are
a
hoot
whether
it
is
Kevin,
Bob,
Stuart
or
Auto.
The
film
nails
the
emotional
bits
of
the
screenplay,
not
only
with
Gru
but
also
with
the
Minions,
and
his
mentor
Wild
Knuckles
but
the
comedy
is
not
at
par.
There
is
enough
for
the
adults
to
keep
them
engaged
while
it
mostly
caters
to
the
young
kids
who
don't
care
about
the
plotline.
The
film
has
a
few
glorious
moments
as
part
of
the
running
gag
of
how
stupid
minions
are
yet
so
smart
and
I
guess
that
is
all
one
can
expect
from
the
fifth
film
in
a
franchise.
I
wasn't
really
the
target
audience
for
the
film,
but
I
am
not
sure
if
kids
should
be
watching
any
of
the
latter
Despicable
Me
franchise
releases.
Overall,
Minions:
The
Rise
Of
Gru
makes
you
want
to
watch
the
original
Despicable
Me
and
hope
that
the
makers
will
invest
in
some
good
writers
for
the
franchise.