MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU
Cert U ★★★
In cinemas now
The slapstick sidekicks stole most of the laughs in the early Despicable Me movies. But, while tasty in small portions, they made for an underwhelming main course in Minions, their first spin-off movie from 2015. So the yellow oddballs are back on henchmen duty in this 1976-set prequel.
Steve Carell anchors the mayhem as the voice of Gru, now an ambitious 11-year-old who has just built his first evil lair in the suburban house he shares with his mother (Julie Andrews).
The idol of this supervillain wannabe is Wild
Knuckles (Alan Alda), leader of gang The Vicious Six, who is ousted by his superfly comrade Belle Bottom (Taraji P Henson).
Gru applies to join the gang and is rebuffed so, to prove his worth, he nicks the gang’s prize possession – an ancient amulet that harnesses the mystical powers of the Chinese zodiac.
His hapless henchmen instantly lose it, leading to a three-way hunt involving the yellow buffoons, The Vicious Six and a disgruntled Knuckles.
But the ramshackle plot is just a way to tie together a series of patchy sketches that include the Minions hijacking a plane and learning kung fu.
Grown-ups may find there are too many jokes about toilets and bottoms but they should appreciate riffs on Roger Moore-era Bond and The Vicious Six’s supporting players. The power of the dad joke is unleashed with a roller-skating Viking called Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren), levitating nun Nunchuck (Lucy Lawless) and a lobster-limbed baddie called Jean Clawed (Jean-Claude Van Damme).
But, when the world’s top animated franchise recycles Puss in Boots’ puppy dog eyes from Shrek, you sense it’s running out of gas.