What exactly is a minion? Of course, this is not to mull over the definition of the term (which would merely describe their chosen profession), but to ponder as to what these little creatures actually are. Take away their yellow exteriors and multi-lingual infused gibberish, and they are nothing more than a few pounds of oddly shaped build, whose ineptitude prevails over any hint of adroitness the majority of the time.
Are they depraved and characterized by evil intentions? Well, not really. Although they do tend to serve the most despicable being that they can find, their personalities are quite harmless; a notion that can be seen numerous times throughout "Minions," the self-entitled Dreamworks production, and a perception best encapsulated by Bob--one of our three central protagonists--as he routinely latches on to his teddy bear and as he becomes emotionally distraught more often than not. Any attempt to answer these questions can be deemed futile, as well as any attempt to comprehend our nation's obsession with these miniature yellow oddballs.
What we essentially have here is your typical run-of-the-mill children's animated expenditure, which can pretty much be summarized by a handful of attributes: This includes quirky humor (in this particular instance we have fart jokes, physical comedy, and a few jests of the sexual nature), a large dosage of implausibility, and a plot that is predictable and unbelievably dull. The film simply chronicles our strange little heroes' journey to finding a suitable leader in Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock) and, well, that's about it. (In fact, several of the above-mentioned qualities fall incredibly short of sufficient, as the picture suffers immeasurably from a flat sense of pacing and while the better portion of the humor misses its mark.)
Nevertheless, much of this so-called nonfulfillment can be ascribed to the voice acting of Bullock, whose performance is plagued by an enormous amount of unenthusiastic vigor. (This becomes even more pronounced considering she is one of the only speakers of the English language in the entire film.) The persona of Scarlet Overkill is completely dominated by rage and aggression--two distinct features of character that Bullock could under no circumstances conjure up, even if she tried. Our resident Hollywood sweetheart could never fit the role of a hardened criminal mastermind, and nor should she. It is times like these when the casting director should forgo the glamorous choice and opt for a utilitarian decision.
Let's be honest here: "Minions" is obviously a filler and an excuse to kill time before the inevitable release of "Despicable Me 3," in addition to being a product of a relentless and rather incessant display of branding and merchandising. (These little lackeys have made their way onto the front of an innumerable amount of products, not to mention their incalculable array of accompanying action figures and a promotional tie-in with McDonald's.) However, much like any fad, I'm sure their popularity will remain short-term.
When critiquing "Minions" only one question truly comes to mind: Did these secondary characters hold their own in a blockbuster feature film? The answer is a resounding no, and much of this can be attributed to a sheer lack of effort. For, in the picture's most vital scene, we are presented with a voice-over that claims "something was missing" from our beloved heroes' resolution; an ideal juncture to present us with some sort of message, or theme if you will. Of course, the phrase was used literally as opposed to figuratively, and we are simply left with an event that ties the picture to its original installments. Dreamworks had one shot to win over critics this year (and to dethrone Disney, the reigning Academy Award winner for Best-Animated Film), yet it would seem that failure was inescapable.
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