From their first appearance in 2010 to today, the Minions have brought one of Gru’s most evil plans to life: taking over the world. Everywhere you look there is merchandising of the characters. Costumes, slippers, towels, sweatshirts, video games and even a version of ‘Exploding Kittens’. The Minions have taken over the universe so fast and so strong that there are only two options: hate them or love them. And I have to admit that with his second own film I have leaned, for the first time in a decade, towards the latter.
Perhaps it is because ‘Minions: the origin of Gru’ lowers the level of screaming and forced protagonism of its protagonists, or perhaps because it is not so much a second part of ‘The Minions’ as a prequel to ‘Gru, my favorite villain’. A prequel, yes, in which the jokes are somewhat watered down compared to the original saga and in which a little more black humor is missing, but in return it eliminates the dose of glitter and sugar that tirelessly accompanied the first trilogy. One thing for the other.
‘Minions: the origin of Gru’ correctly avoids his great handicap, that of becoming a child version without desire or talent in the style of ‘The little Flintstones’ or ‘A puppy named Scooby-Doo’. Gru and, above all, his secondary characters, maintain the same comic style to which we are already accustomed, and the only thing that changes, in reality, is the age of the protagonist. The essence of the saga lives on in a character who is still learning the art of villainy and who, although he does not dare to show his sinister side like in the originals, is constantly very funny. The fear of destroying the character is unfounded: to be a fifth installment, he is still in good shape.
But if you don’t mind Gru because you’re a Minions fan, this movie, intended as a meeting point between the main saga and the obligatory spin-off, will also give you a good dose of clubbing, bananas, incomprehensible language and cuteness. The slapstick works especially well, with some scenes that rival in absurd violence (although not in perfect timing) with the Looney Tunes shorts. In the end, there is only one possible and palpable conclusion between the blows and the evil plans: ‘Minions: the rise of Gru’ is destined to be a box office success. There is no other possibility.
Both ‘Gru 3. Despicable Me’ and ‘The Minions’ exceeded one billion dollars at the box office, and this film comes to unite all those who did not go from one franchise to another. Whether you like the mischief of Gru or the well-intentioned disasters of the Minions, you’re going to check out. That is why it is less understood that in Spain they have decided that, to attract attention, Donna Disco, the main villain, is dubbed by Mónica Naranjo. We are in 2022 and there are still certain practices that nobody likes that we have to move away from, right?
Luckily, he doesn’t do it as badly as other terrifying examples we’ve heard over the years (with Melendi in ‘How to train your dragon 3’ as the ultimate standard of shame) and compensates with the charisma of his character, a member from ‘The Savage Six’. This is a frankly successful group that gets the biggest laughs in the film thanks to personalities explained at a glance with some hilarious cartoon designs where you can see that the animation department had a great time bringing them to life. In addition, in Spain they have been translated very accurately as Pierre Pinza, Svenganza, Puñacos or Sor-chaku, a villainous ninja nun who is the star in every gag dedicated to her. These villains not only steal the main stone of the film: they also steal every scene in which they appear. Luckily, there are not many and they let the plot breathe.
I confess that when I started ‘Minions: the origin of Gru’ and saw that it introduced six new characters out of nowhere I thought the film would be overloaded, but nothing could be further from the truth. The film knows how to measure very well the time that each character must be on screen so that they do not become neither light nor heavy: they have the right weight that they should have so that the protagonists continue to be so, but being a real threat. Of course, let no one be fooled, because this is far from being a perfect movie.
I wouldn’t say that ‘Minions: the origin of Gru’ has serious problems, because nobody is asking for perfect plot coherence and impeccable subtlety from the fifth installment of the Illumination saga, but it is true that, once the pieces are arranged in the board, stagnates and begins to get lost between secondary plots. For half an hour into the second act, the film takes a plot detour in which nothing happens funny enough to justify it, beyond a couple of beatings from the Minions.
One could judge this film with raw fierceness and cheap cynicism, but it’s not worth it. He doesn’t play to stay in your memories forever, no
it wants to be as sentimental as Pixar or as creative as Sony. In fact, her only objective is quite noble and sincere: to spend 90 minutes protected from the heat laughing and living a little adventure without plot shocks with laughter as the protagonist.
This second part of ‘The Minions’ succeeds in the crossover between franchises while remaining faithful to the humor and the fabulous designs that have brought it to this point. The mixture of black humor (somewhat bleached) and the classic slapstick of the Minions make the result somewhat tasteless, but also painless, perfect for a hot summer in which the head does not give more than to laugh seeing a pet stone with wobbly eyes. Sometimes, what do you want more for?