An intensely funny
animated romp
through one of my
favourite periods
in modern history.
It is sad to see the length to which Universal's corporate scumbags have gone to ruin my enjoyment of this film. It's disgusting over-marketing, the intense focus on brand awareness and the appearance of the minions in literally countless advertising campaigns. These little guys have been packaged, sold and forced into every cranny of the media and I swear to have seen some reference to the franchise in every film I have seen in the past seven-eight months. It makes it very hard for me to recommend this film, because I do not blame people for being burnt out and irritated with the entire ordeal.
Recommend it I do however, for I feel this is one of the funniest films to have been released in the past few years. It is clever, fast and was basically everything I could have wanted from a family oriented comedy. It was a genuinely a wonderful surprise. I am not sure if I would call this or Cinderella the biggest surprise of the year, but 2015 is shaping up to be a year of broken expectations for me, in a good way.
So why does this film work? By far the biggest component of it's success is the animation. The visuals are always moving, always preparing for a new joke while the current one plays out. It never feels like there is a comedy dead spot or a missed opportunity for humour and literally every frame works to either deliver or set-up a joke. The comedy very much follows the Looney Toons methodology, and the same mixture of slapstick and verbal humour combined. Minions takes the formula further however, as the budget allows for dozens of clever visual jokes to crammed seamlessly into the background. I want to re-watch this film solely so I can hunt these background gags down one by one.
The film also has amazing comic timing. The slapstick in this film is of the highest quality, sold with excellent sound mixing, and the speed of the character's expressions is remarkable. Sandra Bullock and John Hamm's characters Scarlett and Herb Overkill are the best examples of this. They move and react so quickly and with such detail on top of both actor's exceptional vocal comedic timing, that I am prepared to call them the funniest characters I have seen in any recently released animated film. They are that hilarious.
Can I also point out how refreshing it is to get a funny female villain who is not in any way subservient to a male character, and is also not portrayed as some kind of incomplete, single woman scorned by men? It is actually hard to think of many female villains who are not subservient to a man, and yet are also in a relationship. Seems like a weird thing to pick up on, but it was a refreshing thing to see, and it is also sad that I have not seen that particular character set-up more often.
The titular minions are also highly amusing, with the film being led by three characterised minions. They offer up a lot of great slapstick and Pierre Coffin is great as always in the role. I have to give him huge credit for giving the three leads such distinct, funny and likeable personalities simultaneously whilst also keeping the core minion humour and traits present within them all. This is all done without coherent dialogue by the way. I cannot imagine how much work this must have been and give the the man (who is should point out also co-directed the film by the way!) all the credit I can for what he has achieved largely single handed in this film. His work here is truly staggering.
Possibly my most subjective positive about this film is it's setting. I adore the late 60's and find the pop culture and iconography of the period so enjoyable. I can tell that the filmmakers share this love with me, and they go totally bananas and submerge the film entirely in the setting. Much like how the film never misses a chance to do something funny, it also takes every opportunity it can to crack a joke or make a reference to the period. It does this through the excellent soundtrack, with many of my favourite tunes of the day, the aforementioned background humour and the surprisingly funny dialogue for the human characters. The film also shows surprising restraint in this department, playing it's big period jokes carefully and never over-saturating things. For example, The Beatles, Nixon, the moon landing and so many other period defining topics are only used once each, and all of these jokes are incredibly funny because of this restraint.
There are some minor flaws however. Not every joke works, and although the film's quick pace is able to sweep most of these groaners up without them lingering, it would still be unfair to say that every joke is funny. Also, the actual plot-line is weak and fairly ridiculous. This does not matter much do to the film's clear focus on comedy above plot, however it would still have been nice to get a strong and unpredictable narrative alongside our comedy.
Overall, this film is a true joy. Go see it if you can and don't let the obnoxious marketing discourage you. It is annoying, and I hate to support such egregious business tactics, however letting such a gem of a comedy pass you by would be far worse.
By Jack D. Phillips
A Zoom Film Review
Recommend it I do however, for I feel this is one of the funniest films to have been released in the past few years. It is clever, fast and was basically everything I could have wanted from a family oriented comedy. It was a genuinely a wonderful surprise. I am not sure if I would call this or Cinderella the biggest surprise of the year, but 2015 is shaping up to be a year of broken expectations for me, in a good way.
So why does this film work? By far the biggest component of it's success is the animation. The visuals are always moving, always preparing for a new joke while the current one plays out. It never feels like there is a comedy dead spot or a missed opportunity for humour and literally every frame works to either deliver or set-up a joke. The comedy very much follows the Looney Toons methodology, and the same mixture of slapstick and verbal humour combined. Minions takes the formula further however, as the budget allows for dozens of clever visual jokes to crammed seamlessly into the background. I want to re-watch this film solely so I can hunt these background gags down one by one.
The film also has amazing comic timing. The slapstick in this film is of the highest quality, sold with excellent sound mixing, and the speed of the character's expressions is remarkable. Sandra Bullock and John Hamm's characters Scarlett and Herb Overkill are the best examples of this. They move and react so quickly and with such detail on top of both actor's exceptional vocal comedic timing, that I am prepared to call them the funniest characters I have seen in any recently released animated film. They are that hilarious.
Can I also point out how refreshing it is to get a funny female villain who is not in any way subservient to a male character, and is also not portrayed as some kind of incomplete, single woman scorned by men? It is actually hard to think of many female villains who are not subservient to a man, and yet are also in a relationship. Seems like a weird thing to pick up on, but it was a refreshing thing to see, and it is also sad that I have not seen that particular character set-up more often.
The titular minions are also highly amusing, with the film being led by three characterised minions. They offer up a lot of great slapstick and Pierre Coffin is great as always in the role. I have to give him huge credit for giving the three leads such distinct, funny and likeable personalities simultaneously whilst also keeping the core minion humour and traits present within them all. This is all done without coherent dialogue by the way. I cannot imagine how much work this must have been and give the the man (who is should point out also co-directed the film by the way!) all the credit I can for what he has achieved largely single handed in this film. His work here is truly staggering.
Possibly my most subjective positive about this film is it's setting. I adore the late 60's and find the pop culture and iconography of the period so enjoyable. I can tell that the filmmakers share this love with me, and they go totally bananas and submerge the film entirely in the setting. Much like how the film never misses a chance to do something funny, it also takes every opportunity it can to crack a joke or make a reference to the period. It does this through the excellent soundtrack, with many of my favourite tunes of the day, the aforementioned background humour and the surprisingly funny dialogue for the human characters. The film also shows surprising restraint in this department, playing it's big period jokes carefully and never over-saturating things. For example, The Beatles, Nixon, the moon landing and so many other period defining topics are only used once each, and all of these jokes are incredibly funny because of this restraint.
There are some minor flaws however. Not every joke works, and although the film's quick pace is able to sweep most of these groaners up without them lingering, it would still be unfair to say that every joke is funny. Also, the actual plot-line is weak and fairly ridiculous. This does not matter much do to the film's clear focus on comedy above plot, however it would still have been nice to get a strong and unpredictable narrative alongside our comedy.
Overall, this film is a true joy. Go see it if you can and don't let the obnoxious marketing discourage you. It is annoying, and I hate to support such egregious business tactics, however letting such a gem of a comedy pass you by would be far worse.
By Jack D. Phillips
A Zoom Film Review
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