Once upon a time, Gru wanted to be part of a team. I imagine this was like your standard 11-year-old fantasy of wanting to play in the NBA. But much like LeBron James was born to play basketball, he probably wasn’t quite ready for the NBA prior to puberty, nor was li’l Gru quite yet ready for the big league of crime.
And … this is a cartoon. A silly cartoon. So there’s that. When you see it’s animated and most of the screen time is devoted to the antics of yellow, pudgy, symmetrical gribberish-spouting aliens, it’s fairly easy to see why Gru (voice of Steve Carell) was granted an interview to be part of the Vicious 6, a collection of colorful and effective villains. It is easier to see, however, why Gru was laughed out of the interview.
Ah, but even li’l Gru had a knack for both the wild success and the embarrassing failure. With Vicious 6 members distracted by a destructive interviewee, Gru swipes the film’s MacGuffin and takes off. Hey, if you want a criminal organization of thieves to take you seriously, what better way is there? Then he gives the MacGuffin to a Minion who promptly trades it for a pet rock. If that doesn’t make you smile, I dunno what will.
Then Gru is kidnapped and our banana-like heroes are on rescue duty. Meanwhile, the MacGuffin is acquired by a biker on a cross-country trip. So, naturally, the Minion who notices this trails the cross-country bound motorcycle in a big wheel, puddling furiously. Again, if that doesn’t make you smile, I don’t what will.
The Minions track the kidnap to NE San Francisco where –like most tourists- they have trouble with the hills. While ascension remains a problem for these yellow potatoes, the Minions discover their bodies are anatomically ideal for rolling, which makes descending
a breeze so long as they tuck their limbs and go. And you know what I’m going to say about smiling.
Unlike the previous iterations of Despicable Me (and that includes Minions), Minions: The Rise of Gru truly understood where entertainment value was going to come from. Counterintuitively, one of the big problems with Despicable Me sequels/prequels is that the original was successful on many levels. One would guess that would pave the way for more success – I imagine several executives opining: “no matter what road we take, how can we go wrong?” And that rhetorical question/thesis isn’t wrong; the other entries to this franchise have been successful, more-or-less, but this one truly understood: let’s isolate the Minions and give them a story.
So while Minions: The Rise of Gru comes nowhere close to the 2010 original that spawned this mountain of silliness, I think this chapter is the best since the original. If you enjoy the little yellow guys, this is a must see. If you enjoy sanity, it’s maybe less of a must see.
♪When some evil toady tries to put me down
And says his boss is great
I tell him right away
“Now whatsammatta homie
Ain’t you heard of my Gru?
He’s #1 in hate”
So be true to your Gru now
Just like you would to your remaining eye
Be True to your Gru now
Make sure for him you’ll die
Be true to your Gru! ♫
Rated PG, 87 Minutes
Director: Kyle Balda, Brad Ableson, Jonathan del Val
Writer: Matthew Fogel, Brian Lynch
Genre: Unlawful goofiness
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People with a silly streak
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: The ones that can’t get them to stop giggling
♪ Parody Inspired by “Be True to Your School”
