Children’s films are strange things. They have an innocence and wonder that can make them both endearing and frustrating to watch. Combined with a tendency to get very emotional, it can create an experience that could hit you on a personal level.
But many of these films prefer to play to the most annoying instincts of children by turning into 90 minutes of confusing noise and lame pop culture jokes; it can have a tendency to sound like an evil choir sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks.
“Minions” is somewhere in between these two ends, with a minion overdose pushing it toward the latter.
I enjoyed “Minions,” although not as much as all the kids who where spouting the film’s lines back at the screen seconds after they were said.
The plot is simple, yet the film fleshes it out by adding some nice touches like British Invasion songs and an opening scene showing the various villains the minions served.
The characters are all likable and for once the idea of a prequel actually worked out as something other than a cash grab on screen.
The voice cast was solid too: Sandra Bullock turns her sweetheart image on its head by playing an insecure super villain.
Jon Hamm also excels as a far-out hippie, although he played it so well I kept thinking it might have been more interesting to cast Keanu Reeves.
Early scenes with pro comedians Michael Keaton and Allison Janney also come with a nice twist that plays well on traditional villain tropes.
But the film also proves that cute pill-shaped creatures that speak like a brain-dead ASU student trying to do Spanish can only go so far.
While their singing and dancing may prove endearing as a side attraction, it goes from amusing your brain to assaulting your eardrums by the time the film hits the halfway mark.
Flashbacks to the other minions back at their camp are supposed to be breaks from the main story, but it’s like trying to break a McDonald’s habit by eating Burger King instead.
The kids getting their toys in Happy Meals will appreciate these minions on every edge of the screen, but the adults may feel a need to invest in some earplugs.
Its childish nature turns into an inexplicable weirdness mixed with more music added to wacky moments creating a colossal sugar-rush bomb that made me check to see if my water bottle was spiked with yellow pills.
When the climax hit, I already gave up on an actual plot, so the massive hand wave that went on during the film’s finale bounced off me like I was a yellow little pill myself, rather than make me throw a hissy-fit. The film ends with the minions deciding they need their new master Gru; that’s funny, cause I was thinking the same thing.
I have not seen either “Despicable Me” film in full, but the parts I have seen worked better because the minions worked best as a side show rather than the main event.
Perhaps the film knew I would end up thinking that, and just pounded me into submission until I reached my breaking point.
I stumbled out feeling like I had just seen a chapter of the Bible re-enacted by five-year-olds. Children’s films are strange things indeed.
Reach the reporter at jagger.czajka@asu.edu or follow @JaggerCzajka on Twitter.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
