- Sensibility: The nature of the minion's decision-making, particularly their servitude to evil but not monsters, is confusing to the point that the plot loses its purpose. A bit with a car in a gelatinous monster, a bit around the use of some magic, and the filming of a grand fight sequence are the cherry-on-top of this nonsense sundae.
- Cinematography: Visually quite strong for the first half. Animation is excellent as it always has been for the Despicable Me/Minions films. The makers imbued a lot of creativity in the villians the Minions find and the films they
create which really makes the first half shine. However, the introduction of the monster characters, who feel derivative, simple, and pointless really drag on the film visually and narratively.
- Energy: The film is about movies and film-making for a good half-hour. After this, there's really no telling what it is about. There's some bits where some Minions serve a robotic master, who pales in comparison to the evil of
the monster characters contrary to the Minions' purported purpose. There's some bits around some filming of a monster fight. The lack of purpose in the story and the constant introduction of characters who are only plot devices at their
most complex really makes the last 45 minutes or so hard to sit through.
- Narrative: The film has to invent a series of antagonists in a movie where the antagonists really should be the protagonists. The opening search of the Minions for new masters, a plot which
provides the film a great foundation for creative visuals and interesting narrative developments, is abandoned for a side plot about making movies. This transition works for a bit but then loses its way after the films move to talkies where the story has no idea what to do and doesn't do what it tries very well. At the end of the film, there's really nothing to take away from it: no morals, no themes, no thought-provoking material, no really strong emotional content either.
- T-Points: The film received one bonus point for a series of film references, particularly one for Citizen Kane.
Some might argue that my criticism is too harsh because it is a "kid's movie." I would only remind them of Toy Story, Iron Giant, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and so many other "kid's movies" that can hold their
own thematically, visually, and emotionally against any "adult movie" ever made.
Number of Watches: 1
