First Take: Minions- give me banana

SYNOPSIS: Minions Stuart, Kevin, and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a supervillain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.

The nice thing about the cinemas closing is the ability to start catching up on films that got lost in the shuffle- and the 2015 Despicable Me spinoff/prequel is one of them. Back then everyone was sceptical about whether an origin story for those yellow things was worthy of a full film, but somehow it works much better than it has any right to do so.

Directed by Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, the men who would then take on the third Despicable Me film, it is paced pretty well for a 90 minute kids movie, with plenty of jokes landing courtesy of the script from Brian Lynch- even though the main characters don’t speak a single word of English, the slapstick we’ve got here is enough to convey the film and add a bit of mythology to what Illumination inflicted upon the world in 2010. As ever it is animated incredibly well, and regular composer Heitor Pereira delivers the goods on the score- but the soundtrack really got my seal of approval. A kids film using The Kinks is always a winner.

As for the cast, obviously Coffin voices all of the minions very well as he usually does- but the A-list talent also comes in very handy, with Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm making good villains, Steve Coogan and Jennifer Saunders showing their versatility, Geoffrey Rush fulfilling the role of the narrator with ease, and a few other cast members who can’t be spoiled for pretty obvious reasons. Making an animated movie nowadays is easier said than done, and getting it right is a task in itself- so Illumination have definitely hit the winning formula.

THE VERDICT

This film got buried under Mission Impossibles, ant-men, and magic guys called Mike back in 2015- but now I have finally seen the film, I can understand why Minions was the talk of cinema foyers around the country. It’s a proper wholesome kids movie that the whole family can enjoy, and you don’t get them that often.

RATING: 4/5