At The Movies with James Phelan: Minions & Monsters
Illumination's Minions & Monsters
Some call them Minions. I call them Billions. Because that’s how much they have earned between their self-titled franchise and the ‘Despicable Me’ movies. They are a genuine cultural phenomenon that has made the kind of connection with young audiences of which aspiring animators and writers can only dream.
With their hefty revenues, the little yellow capsule-shaped, dungaree-wearing, gibberish-spouting mob of mayhem are clearly a cash cow. So, the feature films are arriving at a rapid rate but in fairness on the evidence here, no one is phoning it in yet. This latest chapter can’t be faulted for energy or effort.
As established in the first ‘Despicable Me’, the big gang of tiny underlings believe that they exist to serve a boss, usually of the criminal variety. Back then, Steve Carrell embodied and vocalised the aspiring villain Gru to memorable effect. He is shunted aside for Minion movies as these films favour shuttling back in time to track the rise and trials of the yellow horde through history.
And what a colourful history. As depicted in this film, the pint-sized servants tried out a giant cyclops in ancient Greece before attempting to serve an evil sorcerer. This second stop proves important because, though their ineptitude mangles their master, the servile followers end up inheriting a book of spells and incantations that can summon monsters.
The ancient tome is of most interest to two minions who don’t fully fit within the herd mentality of the roving rapscallions. James and Henry constantly drift to the edge of the pack. They begin to show individualistic streaks, especially James who harbours dreams and drawings that could be described as storyboards.
What a coincidence then that when wandering in the desert one day, the tiny terrors finally spy a bad guy worth backing. He takes the form of a train robber on horseback who the minions try and help but their chaotic assistance derails both the thief and the train. Now hurtling back into an urban area on a runaway locomotive, the audience is treated to a blitz of clues to let us know that this is Hollywood in the silent movie era.
And yes, what the minions have interrupted is actually all an act. Despite my pedantic objection to a lack of visible cameras, a stressed film director did apparently capture footage of the entire scene going wrong in an epic way. However, when he shows the out-of-control stunt sequence to the studio bosses, the powers that be fall in love with the minions and demand to see more of them.
So the entire mob become silent movie stars. And James finds the outlet for his creative expression that he was seeking. Quite what this has to do with the core quest of the crew always looking to serve an evil boss gets fudged for a while. It is sold as the weary minions being briefly seduced by fame and satisfied with a roof over their heads and food in their bellies.
As if to educate an age group who might have no knowledge of this period in movies the advent of sound is covered too. Like a lot of European silent movie stars, the minions flounder when discernible dialogue needs to be recorded. Speaking of how the minions speak, there seems to be a definite decision to move their gibberish language closer and closer to being understandable. Fragments of Italian and Spanish now sit alongside garbled English leading to sentences that approach making sense. Either that or my ear is getting more attuned to this nonsense. Which is worrying.
For the climax, the book of spells established in the first act gets pulled out to conjure a gelatinous blob of a monster. The reasons why are a bit hazy and as this oozing swelling bowl of jelly engulfed the city, I realised that this might finally be a misstep. Overall though, this film is sound. Entertaining enough to please old fans and good enough to find new ones.
