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Review: Minions

Meet Kevin, Stuart and Bob – your new best friends. Like it or not, the loveable Minions will relentlessly weasel their way into your hearts, as the trio star in Universal’s newest animated flick, Minions.

Riding off the popularity of the hugely-successful Despicable Me movie franchise, Minions takes viewers back to the beginning, when Minions began as tiny yellow organisms, evolving through the ages, desperate to serve the most despicable of masters. Keeping a boss alive proves difficult, and the Minions become more and more depressed, until Kevin, our hero, comes up with a plan: with reckless Stuart and sweet little Bob by his side, he ventures out into the world to find a new evil master for the Minions to follow.

The boys head off on a global adventure, a comedy of errors that eventually leads them to the ultimate supervillain and dream boss, Scarlet Overkill (voiced by Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock). Alongside Scarlet and her husband Herb (voiced by a somewhat amusing Jon Hamm), they find themselves in London where the Minions rapidly stumble into a series of mishaps that threaten the survival of all Minionkind.

Bullock and Hamm garner a few chuckles throughout the film, but the Minions really do hold their own just fine. From the opening to closing credits, their incessant chatter, trips and falls keep the momentum going and the laughs coming. Bad news for those who find the Minions more on the annoying side…

If you find yourself at the end of the film wondering what exactly just happened, you’re not alone. The storyline moves a mile a minute, leaving the impression you had a great time, but unable to quite remember why. A large portion of the script is not even English, but the Minion’s own endearing (and at times, exhausting) language. Even though they are essentially speaking gibberish, audiences may find themselves surprised at how easily they get sucked into the nonsense world of the Minions. The laughs are sharp, cheap and fleeting, but rest assured, there’s always another right around the corner.

Children will no doubt love the over-the-top gags and non-stop excitement, but adults beware, your head may begin to spin. Fortunately, the undeniably adorable Minions and reasonable run time of an hour and a half make the movie an enjoyable experience for all ages.

Minions opens in theatres everywhere July 10, 2015.

[star v=35]

Kate White

Kate White works in PR in Toronto. She has a weakness for classic film and loves a good meet-cute. If you let her pick the movie, it will be When Harry Met Sally, every time.