‘Minions:’ Just plain fun family entertainment

Minions gives the characters that were the best part of the two Despicable Me movies a day in the sun. It’s a solid move by the movie’s producers. Minions is a fun 90 minutes that features some very clever comedy bits starting with minions singing the Universal logo’s theme music.

From there, narrator Geoffrey Rush takes you though the evolution of the species. It’s a creative and funny 20 minutes. After that, the humor is hit or miss, but when it hits, directors Kyle Balda and Despicable Me’s Pierre Coffin and writer Brian Lynch ( Hop, Puss in Boots) hit it out of the park.

Minions — it seems — evolved to serve the most despicable of villains and are not happy unless they’re in that position. The film sticks the minions in an ice cave and has them dying from boredom until Kevin, Stuart and Little Bob step out and seek someone to serve.

As an aside, I always thought the producers of the Ice Age films should have given Scrat his own movie too. He’s far more fun than the Woolly Mammoth, Sloth and Saber Tooth Tiger and their so-so antics. But Scrat’s acorn addiction is a limited subject, so not giving him a movie is understandable.

Minions are not limited. They’re charismatic and impossible not to love. The minions will also benefit at the box office from an incredibly well-done marketing plan.

It’s how my 2-year-old granddaughter Clementine fell in love with the minions. It’s only natural that I made Minions her first foray into the world of movies. My three children like movies, but they don’t love them. Maybe my granddaughter will share my passion for movies and film criticism.

My first theater experience was The Wizard of Oz. I remember it. Since age 2 is awfully early to remember movies, my guess is Clementine won’t remember much about Minions. Neither will anybody else. Minions will never be a classic like Toy Story or Monsters Inc., or like mid-period Disney flicks like The Lion King, The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast.

A big part of why comes from the now-overdone marketing. The minion blitz is rapidly closing in on overkill which — ironically — is the name of one of the movie’s main characters. Tiny minion bits are everywhere from commercials to a zillion places on YouTube.

Note to the producers: Your movie is enjoyable and laugh-out-loud funny in places. I’m recommending it, but enough already with the marketing.

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 1:00 PM with the headline "‘Minions:’ Just plain fun family entertainment."