Anthony's Film Review - Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)

Once again, the lovable silly characters of the Despicable Me series provide enough humor to keep us awake...

At this point, the series of animated films consisting of three Despicable Me movies and one prequel spinoff Minions movie now has a gap filled. Minions: The Rise of Gru follows Minions and precedes the original Despicable Me, and like the three Despicable Me films, this one prominently features both Gru and his Minions. The only difference is Gru's age. Here, he is an 11-year-old evil genius who dreams of being a supervillain someday. Even though it will take years before that happens, young Gru still has adventures that will already prepare him for that.

In this movie, there is a supervillain sextet known as the Vicious 6, which include Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), an evil nun, and the ringleader named Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin). However, there is a split in the group as Belle Bottom betrays Wild Knuckles, leaving the latter out to dry while the other five take off without him. Gru comes into the picture as a possible new member of the Vicious 6 to replace Wild Knuckles, who happens to be Gru's idol. The story ultimately centers on a magical Chinese medallion that Belle first possesses, Gru steals, and Wild Knuckles ultimately wants to get back.

Let's talk about Gru's Minions since they are mentioned first in the movie's title. If you've already seen Minions or any of the three Despicable Me movies, there's really nothing new I have to say. These idiotic, foolish, and clumsy yellow creatures are constantly getting themselves into silly moments of trouble, one after the other. Kids in the audience will no doubt be kept amused all the way through. Adults can still find them funny if they are willing to just put aside any expectations of humor having to be more high-brow and intelligent. Often, the jokes are predictable the moment before they occur. Still, one scene made me laugh more than a mere whisper: Minions rolling down the steep hills of San Francisco.

As before, when you have a movie featuring Gru, you have a supervillain alongside other supervillains, but with certain ones being the heroes because the others are relatively more evil than the rest. Here, Gru finds that the remaining Vicious 6 consider him to be a threat and so ends up teaming with Wild Knuckles. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the old saying goes. As all of this is happening, the Minions are trying to reunite with Gru because they know he is in trouble. The great lengths they will go to reach him are rather amusing.

Minions: The Rise of Gru is more of the same simple silly fun of the Despicable Me and Minions movies. Kids and adults can enjoy this movie. I will say, though, that it's more of a kids movie that has enough to keep the adults from getting bored, rather than an animated film that appeals equally to both. As far as the series as a whole is concerned, I'm guessing that there won't be another pre-Despicable Me prequel. I assume that Illumination Entertainment can proceed with Despicable Me 4. No matter what comes next, one thing is certain: those silly Minions will never stop making us laugh.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Minions: The Rise of Gru, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my reviews of the following:

The Despicable Me/Minions Films