![]() Okay, Chaplin did the same thing in the 1942 talkie re-edit of Gold Rush, but a) many silent-film fans consider that a terrible idea, and b) at least Chaplin’s detached, documentary-style narration adds new levels of humor to particular sequences. Yet in the opening act, before there are talking humans on the screen, the Minions’ shenanigans are supplemented by largely unnecessary voice-over (supplied by Geoffrey Rush). (The Minions’ dialogue, such as it is, is supplied as always by co-director Pierre Coffin, who also co-directed the Despicable Me films.) The filmmakers are conscious of this silent heritage, judging by how they borrow from Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush and Modern Times. ![]() The Minions, with their largely nonsensical jabber, are a bit like silent-era comedians - not unlike Shaun the Sheep and his co-stars. I was born in the late 1960s, and I think some of the period gags went over my head.īut the movie doesn’t trust the audience to get the jokes. In addition to risqué sight gags like Stuart in a thong, there are period jokes tied to the late-1960s setting, with references to Richard Nixon and Andy Warhol, The Dating Game and Abbey Road. The thing is, Minions seems to want to appeal to older viewers. If you want something that will stand up to repeated viewings on home video and not try the patience of parents and clever, thoughtful children … well, if you’ve already seen Inside Out, you may want to hold out for Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep Movie, opening in August. If you ask no more of an animated franchise film than passable diversion for the youngest members of the target audience, mission accomplished. The Minions, who barely say anything comprehensible, are so cheerfully inoffensive, so wide-eyed - in fact, goggle-eyed - and eager to entertain that their antic mugging remains agreeable for prolonged periods. The Penguins are wackier and have a better schtick, but on the flip side their glibly verbose style is quicker to become grating. Scrat the saber-tooth squirrel might be consistently the funniest thing in the Ice Age universe, but does anyone want to watch him for 90 minutes?Īs comic sidekicks go, the Minions at their best are funnier and more charming than Mater they are also more versatile than Scrat. ![]() A tasty side dish doesn’t necessarily make a satisfying main course. The thing is, there’s a reason comic sidekicks were sidekicks to start with, just as there’s a reason Minions are always Minions of someone, be it Pharaoh, Count Dracula or Napoleon Bonaparte it’s the way they’re made. This is usually a sign of the end, although Cars 3 is on the way, and nobody has said Madagascar 4 isn’t happening. Like the Penguins of Madagascar and Mater the tow truck, the Tic Tac-shaped, banana-colored Minions join the ranks of popular comic sidekicks who have taken over their animated franchises.
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