The one gibberish movie to see this year
Minions: Rise of Gru (PG, 87 mins) Directed by Kyle Balda Reviewed by James Croot ★★★
Seven years after their first solo spin-off and a seemingly incredible – and interminable – 29 months since the first trailer for this appeared, the banana-loving, villain-befriending Minions’ sophomore headliner has finally hit cinemas.
With all that time in postproduction, one might have hoped the team at Illumination could have tweaked the visual and verbal gags to perfection – sadly, that’s far from the case.
Instead, this fitfully funny family entertainment is what Goldmember was to the original Austin Powers, a 70s-set (and obsessed), star-studded romp that is fun, but ultimately fairly forgettable.
It’s 1976 and the Minions are putting the finishing touches on 11-and-3⁄4-year-old Gru’s (Steve Carell) first lair. With their assistance, the pint-sized rapscallion regularly causes mayhem around his hometown of Springfield. From clearing packed screenings of Jaws with a fart bomb, to cheating at pinball, taunting gym bunnies and beating the ice cream queue via a cheese ray, he has developed a reputation for prank-driven mischief.
But despite his childish dreams of greater notoriety, even he didn’t expect an invitation from the Vicious Six quite so soon.
They want to interview him for a vacant position, a role he’s convinced he’s a shoo-in to fill, even suggesting to his little yellow employees that they should start looking for other villains to serve.
However, his appearance in the basement of Criminal Records does not go as planned. ‘‘Evil is for adults, not tubby little punks who should be in school,’’ the recently self-appointed new leader of the gang, Bell Bottom (Taraji P Henson), berates the boy. ‘‘Come back when you’ve done something to impress me.’’
Disheartened, but by no means disconsolate, Gru spies an immediate chance to do just that.
While the quintet are distracted, he successfully steals their recently acquired Zodiac Stone. Given the jewel’s potential for magical power, its loss represents a serious wrinkle in the criminal gang’s plans to ‘‘rewrite the rules of villainy’’ when the Chinese New Year arrives in just a couple of days’ time.
While their initial attempt to wrest it back off
Gru fails, his celebrations are short-lived when it is revealed that Minion Otto traded the stone for a pet rock.
The resulting tantrum sees all Minions sacked and Gru set off in a huff. He has hardly made it five yards from his house though, when
he is kidnapped. Not by the Vicious Six, but by their former head honcho – Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin) – a man hell-bent on revenge on his former compadres-in-crime who doublecrossed him.
Now the Minions have just 48 hours to reclaim the stone and deliver it to Knuckles’ San
Francisco digs, or Gru will suffer the fatal consequences of Knuckles’ nefarious Disco Inferno torture device.
As with 2015’s Minions, this is at its best when parodying the popculture of its set time period and playing up to its yellow heroes’ full slapstick potential.
Unfortunately, they rather play second-fiddle to the human battle of wits and weaponry, one that ultimately results in a rather predictable Marvel-esque showdown in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Just as disappointingly, a phalanx of celebrity vocal talent, including Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michelle Yeoh, Dolph
Lundgren, Danny Trejo, Julie Andrews and our own Lucy Lawless (as the wimple-wearing wrongdoer Nun-Chuck), feels rather wasted as they jostle for screen-time and more than simple catchphrases.
Still, there is certainly enough to ensure Rise of Gru doesn’t outstay its welcome, from the brilliant
Bond-esque opening titles, to the 70s touches like Gru’s mother’s Tupperware Party.
So, if you only see one gibberish movie this winter, go for the little custard-coloured creatures in denim.
Minions: The Rise of Gru is now screening in cinemas nationwide.