 The previous 'Sonic' film took me some time to really warm up to, but it has since become something I enjoy. I originally had my hang-ups about adapting a famous property into yet another "fish-out-of-water" story like, 'Smurfs,' or 'Masters of the Universe,' in which our hero's extraordinary home world is left behind to spend the majority of the film on Earth, trying to get back. 'Sonic' did this as well, but at the very least, things weren't as simple as that basic plotline idea. Plus, we had the resurrection of Jim Carrey.
However, there may be a bias here with me and the 'Sonic' franchise because these games were a significant part of my childhood. If these movies had been released in the early '90s, when Carrey and the Sonic franchise were both in their prime, and I was still young, I'd have loved them and probably made them favourites among titles that still sit close to my heart today, like 'Ghostbusters' and 'Ninja Turtles.' But alas, we weren't even at 'Toy Story' yet, as far as CG animation goes, so here we are. The nostalgia particularly pops for me with this sequel, as it introduces the likes of both Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba), whom I remember fondly from a couple of my games, particularly, 'Sonic Triple Trouble,' which I was addicted to. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The sequel, here, picks up eight months after the first film's events. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) has been banished to a Mushroom Planet, and Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is living the good life with Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter). However, Sonic becomes easily bored and, with his super-speed powers, acts as a vigilante hero for the town of Green Hills, Montana. This leads to an "Uncle Ben" moment from Tom, who tells Sonic to be patient and responsible with his powers after Sonic pretty much tears up a city block. Eventually, Tom and Maddie depart for Maddie's sister's wedding in Hawaii, thanks to one of Sonic's incredibly handy Warp Rings (I gotta get some of those). Of course, Sonic goes hog-wild with the house to himself, but he has no idea what's coming. Sonic's "party" is soon disrupted by Doctor Robotnik and his new "friend," Knuckles, the Echidna, who has a hilarious "Drax"-like personality. Both are out for revenge; Robotnik's is obvious. Knuckles wants to honour his extinct Echidna tribe by finding the legendary Master Emerald, allowing whoever possesses it to bend reality to their will. Of course, once Robotnik gets hold of this information, he starts a scheme of his own, along with his old assistant, Stone (Lee Majdoub), to help Knuckles find the Emerald and steal it from him. Sonic's only real help is from a kid who idolizes him: a two-tailed fox named Miles "Tails" Prower. Miles Prower is a fun play on words here and even a part of the character's original history, showing that the writers here did at least a little homework. And that's what I do enjoy about these movies. Most of the time, if there's something out of place about the film as far as an adaptation goes, I do a little of my homework and usually realize the movie is pretty accurate. They're also not shy about the design of things. For example, here, we see Robotnik floating around in a big half-ball machine straight out of the games. While these films give me a certain sense of nostalgia, as so much about them is very '90s, I can't deny there was a thing or two that irked me here. The cliche of dancing to get out of a sticky situation at a rough and tumble bar is in here, for example, feeling a lot like filler. Also, like its predecessor, the jokes and gags are very "Dad." But I can't just sit here and point out everything I don't like about it. The film is meant for a younger audience; it's harmless, and again, I can't deny that the child within me sees the appeal. I'll say again: I'd have loved these as a kid. 3/5
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 Through and through, I consider myself a Mario Man. But there was something special I couldn't deny about those 'Sonic' games I had for my Sega Game Gear. I didn't even go for much else when equipping my Game Gear with fun because I always knew I'd have fun with 'Sonic' games and their "Blast Processing" (which gave Sonic his incredible speed). It sure beat putting around in the OG 'Mario Kart,' and to put a cherry on top of it all, those 'Sonic' games had some amazing, catchy soundtracks.
Two animated series came out to add to the fun of the 'Sonic' games. They ran parallel, but one show was far better than the other. 'The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog' was far more cartoonish, kid-friendly, and had several uncomfortable PSAs. The other, 'Sonic the Hedgehog,' provided an overarching story featuring characters who didn't exist in the games and told an environmentally conscious story without rubbing it in our faces. It was great! A Sonic movie should always have come from that concept for my money. But we got this instead, which many people still love. We start on Sonic's (Ben Schwartz) home planet, where he was born with super speed powers, and the land's native echidnas are constantly chasing him down for said powers. In his childhood, he was protected by an Owl named Longclaw (Donna Jay Fulks), who, as far as I can tell, is brand new here. That might irk some, but the cartoon I loved did the same thing, so it wasn't a big deal for me. During one such chase, Longclaw uses a "Warp Ring" to send him through a portal to Earth so he can stay protected, sending a bag of rings with him. On Earth, Sonic grows up as a cryptid, often called the "Blue Devil." He suggests that he's living the good life, but this life of hiding has him lonely. As a result, Sonic throws a tantrum that causes a power outage throughout the quaint little town of Green Hills, Montana. Knowing he caused the blackout, Sonic tries hiding in Tom Wachowski's (James Marsden) garage, where he can get off Earth using one of his rings, away from the people who will now be looking for him. But when Tom busts in to discover Sonic, a mishap with the Warp Rings occurs, sending Sonic's rings through a Warp Hole to San Francisco. The loss of Sonic's rings sends him and Tom on a road trip to San Francisco to retrieve them. Why doesn't Sonic zoom over and grab them himself? He has no idea where San Francisco is or how to get there. In the meantime, the massive blackout Sonic caused has the government bring in Doctor Robotnik (Jim Carrey in what is arguably his resurrection), who eventually discovers Sonic is the source and could very well have the ability to supercharge his machines. Hence, their rivalry begins. The film all comes down to being a road trip chase movie, complete with Easter eggs for fans like me. The fact that it takes place in "Green Hills" is only the tip of the iceberg. There are relatively obscure references, too, like the "Mean Bean Machine," which is just a coffeemaker in the film. You even get to hear a bit of that classic Green Hills Zone music (if you know any music from the game, it's probably that theme). So, this is a pretty good choice for a movie that will appeal to the Genesis/Game Gear generation and kids who may be brand new to the 'Sonic' franchise. I wasn't as sure about the quality of this film the first time I saw it, but I have to admit that it has grown on me over time. With the help of Jim Carrey's comedic timing and showing us a lot of game familiarity, I credit the film for successfully executing the "fish-out-of-water" cliche. It's not just "Sonic on Earth". They do something with it, making him a cryptid and having him meet his arch-nemesis on Earth instead of someone just following through a portal. It's not quite the movie I wanted initially, but I'll be damned if I can't give this movie a bit of real kudos for doing a video game movie, perhaps not perfectly, but damn well. 4/5  Perhaps it was my trip to Hawaii over New Years Eve, 2012-2013 that really did it, but as far as more modern Disney animation goes, I have to say that 'Moana' is a film that absolutely stays on top for me. It's a great story that delves into a bit of Polynesian culture, full of cool, original ideas, catchy music, beautiful visuals, and some solid comedy. There are a few titles out there that I can watch that will make me want to revisit those breathtaking Hawaiian islands, and 'Moana' is one of them.
It's my understanding that the film doesn't exactly nail it when it comes to Polynesian culture and folklore, but as a "tourist," I can say that 'Moana' certainly conveys the overall spirit of what I experienced in Hawaii. Some of the folklore consists of demi-gods like Maui (Dwayne Johnson), some of it is derived from stories about islands being living beings, and some of the Polynesian langauge and style is evident in the songs that are sung, namely one called "We Know the Way," presenting us with voyagers, searching for new lands. With all of that said, one should probably know that all locations within the film are fictional, starting with the island of Motunui, where a young Moana sneaks off to have a look at the ocean. While there, she adorably helps a baby sea turtle make it to the water, while birds are trying to get at it. With this, the ocean presents itself to Moana as a sort of living being, and chooses her to one day return the Heart of Te Fiti to its rightful place, and restore nature to the way its meant to be. The backstory to Te Fiti; a living island, and goddess of nature, was that the shape-shifting demigod, the aforementioned Maui, stole the Heart (a pounamu stone) as a means to gift humanity with the power of creation. As a result of this, Te Fiti disintegrates, and a volcanic monster named Te Kā attacks Maui. As they clash, Maui loses his fish hook, which empowers him, and the Heart sinks to the depths of the ocean. Maui is also banished to a deserted island, where he spends the next thousand years or so. Back to Moana (Auli'i Cravalho), she eventually grows up, and is meant to become the next Chief of Motunui. This means a lot of the relatively typical coddling from her parents, Tui (Temuera Morrison) and Sina (Nicole Scherzinger), who try to keep Moana away from the ocean, and never to cross the reef, where the ocean is apparently incredibly unforgiving. But one day, when blight strikes the island, Moana's Gramma Tala (Rachel House) reminds her that the Ocean chose her to restore the Heart of Te Fiti. So, Moana sets out on her adventure, despite her overbearing parents (father, mainly). As Moana sets off on her journey, a local chicken named Hei-Hei (Alan Tudyk) stows away, and provides a lot of the film's visual comedy, as this bird isn't quite right in the head. Of course, she also eventually meets Maui, whom she needs all the help she can get from. However, as a demigod, he's a bit reluctant to help, and all he really wants is off his island so he can go find his fish hook. Little does he realize that through helping Moana, he has to earn it - and the ocean is sure to remind him at every turn. As the rest of the film unfolds, one of the best credits I can give it is the absolutely beautiful animation, which has a range of variety to it, as seen in the song 'You're Welcome,' on Maui's tattoos, and the film's opening. On top of that, I'd say most of the songs are catchy, the characters are likeable, and I truly appreciate the imagination that went into the storytelling here. It may not be what I see as perfection, but its imperfections are few and far between enough that this is something I can sit back and truly enjoy when the mood strikes me. 4/5  A bit of a confession to the masses that a few people know about me is that when it comes to classically epic movies - you know, the kind that are often considered some of the greats, I don't end up watching them that often. I'll view them once or twice just to say I've seen them, but the collection of amazing movies out there I've only seen a handful of times, or even once, is pretty outstanding, and would shock people. 'Gladiator' is one such title, which I saw twice in theatres, twice on DVD, and I've left it alone for over two decades until now.
The great thing about being such a fan of film, yet having that approach to things, is that it allows movies to be "brand new" to me again, and I can enjoy them on that level I enjoyed them once in the past. Sometimes things like early CG can get in the way, but not in the case of something like 'Gladiator,' which overthrows anything bad about it (and there's not much) with a great story, bringing together bits of fact and fiction to create something truly epic, and arguably, one of the greatest films of all time. The whole thing opens up in the year 180 AD, where Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) leads Emperor Marcus Aurelius' Roman army to victory against Germanic tribes. As this puts Maximus in Marcus' favour, Marcus tells him of his crooked son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), whom he deems unfit to take things over. Instead, Marcus tells Maximus how he'd like him to take succession as regent, believing he would be a great leader who will be able to restore the Roman Republic. Upon finding this information out, Commodus gets understandably PO'ed, murders his father in secret, and proclaims himself the new Emperor of Rome. When he requests Maximus' loyalty, however, Maximus refuses, remembering what Marcus told him. That's when things go off the rails. As Maximus fails to pledge his loyalty, in turn, he eventually discovers the murdered bodies of his wife and family, and is eventually sold to gladiator trainer Proximo (Oliver Reed). The thing is, Maximus is not just some guy off the streets of Rome - he's a trained, professional war General, and has some skills. As Maximus keeps fighting through battles, mostly at Rome's Colosseum, his popularity rises, earning him the nickname "The Spaniard." But when Commodus organizes 150 days of gladiatorial games to commemorate his father, Proximo convinces Maximus that if he wants his freedom, he's gonna have to win over the crowd. His popularity may very well be the only thing that keeps him from getting killed, despite Commodus' dislike for him, as Commodus wants the respect of the Roman people. This is a film that still totally holds up, and I'd highly recommend checking it out again if you haven't seen it in a while. It's a friendly reminder that epic movies of the early 2000s could still be pulled off without needing a whole lot of CG, which, at the time, 'Lord of the Rings' was pulling off really well, but 'Star Wars' exemplified CG that hasn't aged very well. It was a mixed bag. But luckily, here, for cool scenes like the tiger brawl, they used real tigers and a teeny-tiny bit of CG and stuffed tigers for their deaths, and it still looks great. I remember this one getting all the accolades of the time, too. Twelve Oscar nominations, for example, winning five, including Best Picture. And if you go to IMDb right now, it is ranked as #34 in the Top 250 Movies of All Time. Any way you slice it, really, this is just one of those legendary titles that has gone down in cinematic history as something truly epic in every sense of the word. So go ahead and check it out if you've never seen it, and after you're done, ask yourself the big question; "are you not entertained?" 5/5  The Sony-verse (as far as Spider-Man-related movies go) is a very hit-or-miss situation altogether. While the animated 'Spider-Verse' movies are entertaining, artistic, clever takes on stories about Miles Morales, giving Sony its own Spider-Man after Disney/Marvel took Peter Parker away. That's a whole situation I wish the hell I knew why Sony wasn't capitalizing on, but they decided to go a different route instead; the frankly overall disappointing route of trying to make some kind of a fake-ass Sinister Six for themselves.
For my money, the only half decent live-action movies that exist in the Sony-verse are the Venom films, starting with this new, but not bad take on the character. By the time this came out, a lot of us went with the idea that it couldn't possibly be worse than 'Spider-Man 3's take on the character. In the end, it pretty much completely divided audiences. Critically, these didn't do so hot, but fans (and myself) were at least able to cut it a little slack, because, hell, the character was just done really well. When a space mission that includes the quick name-drop of "Jameson" (Chris O'Hara) goes wrong, and their ship crash-lands on Earth, three of four "Symbiotes" (an alien organism that attempts to bond with a host) are quickly collected by Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), who understands that successfully bonding with these things could be a next step towards our human evolution, allowing us to explore space, and potentially finds more planets to inhabit. However, a fourth Symbiote (Venom) manages to escape the wreckage. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) enters the scene to report on Drake, and give him a hard time with some top secret files. As a result, Brock loses everything, including His job, and his fiance, Anne (Michelle Williams), who happened to work for Drake's company. However, Dr. Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate), who works for Drake and realizes what he's doing with these Symbiotes, secretly invites Brock back to the lab to expose Drake's experiments. This is where the Venom Symbiote finds and bonds with Brock. It's revealed that the Symbiotes' general purpose (at least for this movie) is to invade planets, possess and devour their inhabitants, and move on. If Eddie helps Venom with this, he may just be spared. However, the pair soon find themselves in over their heads when the aforementioned fourth, escaped Symbiote (Riot) finds his host, ready to continue their alien goals, while Venom ends up finding a bit more of a human/righteous side to himself while bonded with Brock, and helps Eddie become the film's hero. The whole Venom storyline has more or less fallen by the wayside as far as trying to get a live-action version of it to be everything we want it to be. 'Spider-Man 3' screwed it up, and this storyline is just very different, with its own ideas and concepts. I was never too mad at it though, considering what was done with 'Spider-Man: Homecoming,' being an MCU original take on a much more popular character, and enjoying that just fine. Why should this have been any different for me? In the end, I can fully admit that I find this movie to be a lot of fun, and although the story isn't "correct," the character (I find) is done well. This is definitely not everyone's Venom, and I think it's safe to say that aside from the original comic book take on things, one should definitely refer to the 1994 animated series for the original story. That said, if you're new to the character, I don't think this is a bad place to start. While these films remain the best part of the Sony-verse, however, they're far from perfect, or even that wonderful. But if you're looking for a bit of a roller coaster ride, and are open to a few changes here and there, this is just fine for what it is. 3/5  At the end of 2016's 'Deadpool', we got our typical-by-now post-credit sequence, involving Deadpool doing a take on the post-credit scene to 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', and ultimately teasing us that the film already had a sequel in the works with the casting of famed badass, and never-before-used Cable in mind. We were ready for it, and the rumour mill started up on who was gonna play Cable - most famously, Brad Pitt, but we'll come back to him in a bit. It was one of the more discussed topics among friends until they cast Thanos, himself, Josh Brolin.
I think everything worked out for the best in the end, but instead of talking about casting, maybe I should just get into the film itself. Riding on the coattails of the ultra-successful, R-rated 'Logan', this one actually opens with a dose of tragedy, and another great opening sequence with humorous credits, this time parodying the 'Bond' movies. Even though this all happens right at the beginning, and the film is on the older side at this point, I'm still not gonna say exactly what happens, but it does lead to Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) entering a deep depression, which makes him search for a greater purpose. Soon enough, Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic (Brianna Hildebrand) come back into Wade's life, in another attempt to recruit him to the X-Men. Wade reluctantly agrees, and is soon given his first mission; to try to help a destructive young mutant by the name of Firefist (Julian Dennison) before things go wrong. That particular "wrong" involves killing the headmaster of his orphanage (Eddie Marsan) who want to cure him, and consider his mutant abilities a sin. That murder will ultimately direct him down a dark path of destruction. We learn of this destruction through the aforementioned Cable, who travels from the future to "present day" (2018) to get to Firefist early, and prevent him from eventually growing up and slaughtering Cable's family. The kid then becomes Deadpool's go-to source for having a change of heart and ultimately doing the right thing by not only preventing his 'T2'-like murder, but also trying to set him on the right path. Although the jokes and gags here are plenty, this one is still quite a bit darker than the first, and a better glimpse into Wade's more serious side (small though that side may be). I might suggest that this chapter of the 'Deadpool' series might have been better for the time, especially with the introduction of 'X-Force', which was the original direction these films were heading. We were introduced to characters like Domino (Zazie Beetz), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård), Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Vanisher (remember when I mentioned Brad Pitt?) and of course, Peter (Rob Delaney). I may argue that things really did turn out for the best in the end, when these films took a different direction with 'Deadpool & Wolverine', but still, an 'X-Force' movie lead by Deadpool could have been a lot of fun! So this now kind of suffers as a bit of a hinge movie with different expectations by the end of it, but I will say that it's not something in plain sight. It's not like the movie left us with a major cliff-hanger for the upcoming 'X-Force' movie. Instead, we actually get a time-travel sequence that lends itself more to the direction they went with the series. One might call it a happy accident, but one might also just say that the concept of time travel opens too many easy doors. But that's the nice thing about Deadpool - either way you slice it, we're gonna have fun with it. It's hard for me to say whether I like this one of the first one better, but I do feel like the first had more going for it as a film the fans were clamouring for. That's not to say this wasn't effective, it's just that we've seen what DP can do at this point. On top of that, this now carries that "What if?" scenario involving 'X-Force' that we never got to see. But there's still enough here in fourth wall-breaking, jokes, gags, cameos and all-around action that it's a super solid and super worthy sequel to its predecessor. Just thank god 'Deadpool & Wolverine' picked up some of the missing pieces! 5/5  Way back in the late 90s, there was a whole slew of movies about natural disasters, becoming the "bar-setter" when it came to box office success. It's funny to think about what made a fun box office thriller before the turn of the century, but I do have very fond memories of the era. Whether I went with friends or by myself, I found my love of movies within this time by hitting up the theare almost every weekend. So there will be a bit of a bias towards this movie for me, if only because it reminds me of a simpler time.
When I say "simpler time," here, I'm not so much talking about my life as I am the box office, and what made a hit. This was before superheroes got good, predates 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Harry Potter', and it marks a time when I remember people just being more forgiving about the execution of a fun, popcorn action movie. And really, that's all 'Twister' should be viewed as. These movies aren't without faults, but they do remind us of a time we could just strap in and go for a ride. It's still how I try to watch movies today, although it doesn't always succeed. Truth be told, this was one a dear friend showed to me at his house shortly after it was released on VHS (it's what predated DVDs for all you kids), so I missed it on the big screen. But it, combined with the release of 'Independence Day' earlier that year, is probably (arguably) the beginning of the 90s disaster movie era, and I definitely caught the bug. The whole concept of "Man vs Nature" was always something I liked, and it was cool to see something a bit more grounded and "real," which added to the fear factor of everything. Kicking the whole thing off with a fairly devastating scene involving one Jo Harding's (Alexa PenaVega) childhood, the movie begins with the experience that would turn her into the adult storm chaser she would become (Helen Hunt). Leading a team of other storm chasers and scientists, she hopes to one day be able to deploy an invention they have dubbed "Dorothy," which will be able to study wind patterns and such with little sensors and make storm predictions much more accurate. Said design comes from the mind of Bill (Bill Paxton), Jo's estranged husband. He has since gotten out of the storm-chasing game and become a weatherman due to his uncanny ability to read the skies. He has also settled down and gotten engaged to a reproductive therapist named Melissa (Jami Gertz). Bill brings Melissa with him for some reason to get his and Jo's divorce papers signed, but upon meeting up with Jo, Bill gets sucked right back into the game, especially knowing that his vision of Dorothy has been made and is ready to be tested. Bill, Jo and the rest of the team (which includes the likes of Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Alan Ruck, among others) also get a fair shake of competition with a jerk named Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes), who ultimately stole Bill's ideas for Dorothy, and hopes to beat them to the punch. Otherwise, a lot of the film involves storm-chasing, going one by one, conveniently according to scale of the twisters they chase, with a grand total of five, and perhaps providing a bit of predictability after the second tornado. While the film may not be quite as riveting or exciting as it once was, since so much more has been released since, there's still an obvious "something" to it. The release of '24's long-gap sequel of 'Twisters' released to some pretty solid box office numbers, all things considered. Is nostalgia the main factor? Or has it just been that long since we've had fun with tornadoes that don't have sharks all up in them? Either way, I do consider this a mild classic in its own right. It's by no means perfect, and often absurd, but nevertheless still kinda fun. 4/5  By now, I think it's probably safe to say that the Minions are typically seen as one of two things - adorable, innocent and fun or irritating, invasive and simply there for the cash-in. I tend to lean a little more towards the former, although with the full realization that indeed, these little yellow fellows are money makers and that's generally the reason these films get any sort of mileage anymore. At no point was it more obvious than the two years between the last 'Minions' movie of 2015, and 'Despicable Me 3' of 2017.
Thankfully, this one managed to come along after a respectable five year hiatus, and actually make us care about Gru (Steve Carell) again for the first time since probably 'Despicable Me 2'. While the Minions do play their titular part as expected, the story is much more about, well, the rise of Gru. It's actually a pretty good example of a trailer that delivers all the Minion madness we've come to expect from these films, but the final product ends up much better than we thought it was going to be. And it fits quite nicely in between 'Minions' and the first 'Despicable Me' - arguably the lowest and highest points of the series, respectively. Here, we go back to 1976 when Gru, at just 11 years old, aspires to one day become a supervillain. His first step to success was to hire the Minions to assist him in his work. From there, Gru eventually receives an invitation to audition for the five remaining supervillain members of The Vicious 6; Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), a disco-themed villain who has replaced their former leader; Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin), said former leader; Jean-Clawed (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who has a big lobster claw for a right arm; Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren), a roller skating champion; Stronghold (Danny Trejo), the obvious brute; and Nunchuck (Lucy Lawless), an old nun and master of the nunchaku. Due to Gru's young age, he's taken as a joke rather than any sort of contender for the 6th member. However, in the same room lies the famous Zodiac Stone. In an attempt to prove himself worthy to join the group, with the help of Minions Kevin, Stuart and Bob (again, all Pierre Coffin), Gru manages to steal the Zodiac Stone, giving it to a Minion named Otto for safe keeping. But when Otto trades the stone for a pet rock, a chain of events begins to unravel to truly test Gru's talents. When considering these movies, I have pretty much felt that over time, since the original, they have been taking a bit of a downhill turn. It really did turn into capitalizing on cuteness rather than bringing in any sort of real character development or, again, the contrast the first movie had. I keep bringing that up in this series' reviews, I know, but it (and even the second to some degree) did such a good job of making us smile while also wondering if the movie really "went there" with some of the dialogue and imagery. There as a soft edginess to them. Thankfully, this actually brings some of that back, and things feel as fun as they once were. I think the two thing that truly fuelled this movie for me were a combination of things within the film and unassociated with the film. This movie came along in July of 2022, so even though things were a bit safer for us at the time, Covid was still around, and a lot of us were always looking for ways to brighten our day. With that five-year gap, despite the Minions getting a bit out of hand before, speaking for myself, the were welcomed back into my life with open arms. I never did hate the little guys, even if they got to be a little much. Within the film, on the other hand, the biggest thing the film has going for it is probably its voice-casting. It felt like quite the large coming together of famous names to cover some interesting characters, and I haven't even mentioned that other voices include Michelle Yeoh, Will Arnett, and the return of Russell Brand as Nefario and Julie Andrews as Gru's Mom (who I've somehow never mentioned until now). On top of that though, the film also provides a good and fun origin story for Gru, and things feel a bit more like they used to. I might even go so far as to rank this my second-place choice of the series. 4/5  For my money, this chapter of the series pretty much parallels the first 'Minions' movie as far as overall quality is concerned. This may not rely on almost pure cuteness like 'Minions' did, but it does fall under the category of all-around "staleness" that just about any third part of a series suffers. 'Minions' already kind of overwhelmed us, and there wasn't exactly a big break between movies to give us any sort of breather. So in many ways, this just felt like more of the same, especially when the Minions get a full side-plot here.
For as fun as the Minions are to me, even I have to admit that things started to feel like a bit of an overdose at this point. At least the Minion plot line in 'Despicable Me 2' was still a part of the main story. This was more of a matter of letting them do their own thing, which is what the 'Minion' movie was for. Having said that, I'm not entirely sure that I'd have loved a heavier focus on the main plot either. All in all, I probably consider this one the worst of the bunch. I don't think it's horrible or anything, but I mean, unless you're a kid, it's still kinda bad. Felonious Gru (Steve Carell) and Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) are now a married couple, and adopted parents to Margot (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Nev Scharrel). The pair now work for the AVL (Anti-Villain League), and live a life of adventure. Their current mission is to recover the Dumont Diamond (biggest diamond in the world), which has been stolen by former child actor villain, Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), who is trapped in the 80s, and spends most of the movie just dancing around and listening to retro tunes. When they fail to actually capture and bring in Bratt for the umpteenth time, however, they are both fired by newcomer Valerie Da Vinci (Jenny Slate) - there to replace Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) as head of the AVL. Gru and Lucy come home with the bad news, and while the girls are concerned, the Minions are ready to celebrate Gru's potential triumphant return to evil. When he refuses, however, most of the Minions, led by Mel (Pierre Coffin, once again voicing them all) walk out on him. This is where the story splits in two. The main story involves Gru eventually meeting his long-lost twin brother, Drew (also Carell). Drew is a goodie-goodie who has ultimately disappointed their villainous father, and wants Gru to teach him the ways of villainy. Gru half-way agrees, but uses the stealing of the Dumont Diamond back from Bratt as a cover so that he and Lucy could potentially get their jobs at the AVL back. During all of this, Lucy tries to fit in as a good mother, as she's still very new to the whole thing. Meanwhile, the Minions land themselves in jail and have their whole "prison escape" side story going on, AND we get a third story about Edith and Agnes literally looking for a unicorn that some random guy tells them about. It's really just a way to bring back the cutest and funniest scene in 'Despicable Me' ("he's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!") and capitalize on it. And between all three of the stories, the Minions in prison is about as dark as it gets for any kind of contrast to all the cutesiness. Once again, the original wins for that concept. Above anything else, there's a lot of this where it feels like it doesn't know what it wants to be. Trey Parker wanted to do this so his daughter could see his work without it warping her fragile little mind, and that's fair. But I have to admit that the whole time, all I could hear was Randy from 'South Park', and it still feels incredibly out of place. all in all, I think its passable for all the kids watching, but as an adult, despite a few honest giggles throughout, I have to consider it the weakest of the batch. Thankfully, we'd get a decent breather between this and 'Minions 2'... 2/5  If one were to take the time to try to pinpoint when exactly the Minions got to be a bit too much for some people, I would probably point to this film in particular. It follows the formula of so many cinematic failures by putting the "funny character(s)" front and center. It always seems to take away from the charm of these character(s) we got from the beginning by offering up too much of them. Sometimes they hit, but most of the time they miss, and this is one such example. This was when "Minions" started to get plastered on everything!
I had the same thing happen in my childhood with 'Ninja Turtles', so in some ways, no big deal. The only thing about the Minions is that they are solely reliable on their cuteness. They speak Gibberish (or "Minionese," as it has now been established), and their original purpose was to be a good dose of background/side comedy relief. So to do a whole plot about their origin might feel like a bit of a stretch for some. Having said all of that, while I am totally guilty of falling for their cuteness, I still think they work better as they were originally intended. There's just too much sugar in this, and you might end up leaving with a cavity. The film kicks off with narration by Geoffrey Rush, explaining that Minions evolved from single-celled organisms and became little yellow tic tac-looking beings with eye-magnifying goggles. These little guys who have since become known as "Minions" serve only one purpose - to work for the biggest baddie in town. Admittedly, this makes the opening to the movie kind of hilarious, as if there's one thing the Minions do really well, it's to accidentally kill their master in the silliest and most mundane ways. For example, Dracula gets nailed with sunlight just because the Minions try to wake him up with a surprise birthday party. After going through boss after boss after boss, the Minions find themselves without purpose, and the begin life anew inside a cave. They reside there for years, until 1968, when eventually, a Minion named Kevin (Pierre Coffin, who also lends his voice to the rest of the Minions) decides to set out with a couple of other volunteers, Stuart and Bob (Stuart being a little more "voluntold"), to find a new master and regain purpose in their lives. This takes them to New York City, where they learn of "Villain-Con", which will be taking place in Orlando. With any luck, they'll find their new boss there. For a little bit, it turns into a road trip movie, but eventually they reach the Con, where they come across the likes of supervillain extraordinaire, Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), whose primary focus is the Queen Elizabeth II's crown. Could she end up being the Minion's primary boss? Anyway, now that I've told you half of the entire movie, it kind of goes to show how little there is to it all. Plus, we all know who they end up working for in the end, anyway. Really, this is nothing more than a "bridge" movie that probably should have just come straight to video. For me, this is about as cutesy as I can take from these little yellow dudes. It's fun in its own way, but I can't help but see how blatantly they ripped off their own characters, as Kevin, Stuart and Bob who are essentially Minion versions of Margo, Edith and Agnes, respectively, with their personalities. It's practically cut-and-paste. Further criticisms of mine include the overuse of Beatles gags when there's plenty more British pop culture to pick from, and Scarlet's God-awfully annoying husband, Herb (Jon Hamm) who was just far too over-the-top for my taste. When considering this series as a whole, one can quite honestly watch the first bit of "educational" material to this movie, then just make a jump to 'Rise of Gru'. Although the movie is funny, cute, and has quite a bit of genuine laughs for the right audience, it's ultimately a bit of a throw-away for the series, and altogether relatively pointless. It's a bit of harmless fun, and there's nothing particularly wrong with it. But It's something to watch, if at all, on a Sunday afternoon on your small screen at home. 3/5 |
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