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Minions: The Rise Of Gru Review - A Fun, Yet Slight Despicable Me Prequel
Back in 2010, a franchise was born when so-called supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) dipped his toes into fatherhood with Illumination's Despicable Me. Now, 12 years later, Gru gets something of an origin story in director Kyle Balda's Minions: The Rise of Gru, which also serves as the sequel to the first Despicable Me prequel. Released in 2015, Minions was an unexpected box office smash, becoming the then-second-highest-grossing animated movie of all time. Pandemic delays have pushed The Rise of Gru back considerably, and now it finally arrives. Whether it was worth the wait will ultimately be determined by the audiences it was made for, but it is certain that this is a sequel that does manage to surpass the original. While Minions: The Rise of Gru still can't entirely justify itself, it does provide a far more heartfelt and fun outing than its predecessor.
Picking up sometime after Minions, The Rise of Gru starts with neither of its title entities, but instead a supervillain group known as the Vicious 6. After successfully stealing a powerful stone, leader Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin) is dealt a heavy blow when his apparent second, Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), stages a coup and takes control of the group. Elsewhere, aspiring supervillain Gru is delighted to receive an invitation to interview for the Vicious 6's newly opened position. Gru shrugs off the help of his loyal Minions and heads off to meet his dream, though things go decidedly sideways when Belle Bottom laughs at him instead. To retaliate, Gru nabs the stone in an attempt at proving his villainy. Naturally, things go even more sideways from there, leaving Minions Bob, Stuart, Kevin, and Otto (all voiced by Pierre Coffin) to save their "Mini Boss."
One of the biggest issues with the original Minions is that it put a spotlight on how the titular yellow creatures weren't the best choices to lead their own feature film. Their high-energy antics and incomprehensible way of speaking (comprised of multiple real-life languages) were good fun when they were sidekicks in Despicable Me, but made a solo feature less appealing. Minions: The Rise of Gru works around this by bringing in Carell's pointy-nosed Gru. By including another storyline outside of what the Minions are doing, screenwriter Matthew Fogel has made The Rise of Gru a more well-rounded movie. The added focus on Gru makes this feel less like Minions 2 and more like Despicable Me 0.5, but those who love the Minions don't have to worry too much: They still get plenty of action here.
Minions: The Rise of Gru doesn't do much to switch up the mythology of the creatures and primarily keeps the focus on the same three Minions who led the previous film. The only major new addition here is Otto, an eager but clueless Minion with braces who ends up playing a pivotal role in the plot involving the stolen stone. Even after voicing numerous Minions over the years across multiple movies, Coffin hasn't lost his touch in being able to give each individual character their own personality and voice. The animators deserve credit for this as well, but there is little question that Coffin's vocal performance is one of the reasons the Minions have endured for so long. Even if there might not be much to them depth-wise, they can still be counted on to provide some solid laughs. Minions: The Rise of Gru is genuinely funny at times and even lobs some jokes that will stick out to the older audience members. These include plenty of 1970s references and songs, included so as to keep with the actual time period of the movie.
However, though Minions: The Rise of Gru can be seen as an improvement, it still finds itself lacking in other areas. In addition to Coffin, Carell is reliably excellent as Gru, and Arkin gets to straddle villainy and surprising heart with Wild Knuckles. Beyond them, however, the Vicious 6 is wildly underused, which is shocking considering the performers who make up the cast. Lucy Lawless, Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo, and Jean-Claude Van Damme barely make an impact as their respective villains, though the animation team does get to have some fun with their designs. Michelle Yeoh gets an amusing turn as a martial arts master who teaches Bob, Stuart, and Kevin some vital skills. Overall, though, the story of Minions: The Rise of Gru is so quick and slight that it flies by with little thought. For younger audiences, the just under 90-minute runtime will be a joy. For the older crew, it gives the impression that Minions: The Rise of Gru could've strove a bit higher in its aspirations.
What audiences are left with is a slick, fast-paced burst of energy and color. That isn't a bad thing, just as long as one hasn't grown too tired of the Minions' shtick at this point. The Rise of Gru is littered with major Despicable Me references put in to tie this adventure into the original movies. However, it doesn't do much to inform what came before, thus making the overall film still feel like it didn't necessarily need to be made. A third one would really stretch things too far. At the same time, Minions: The Rise of Gru holds some genuine pleasures and unexpectedly sweet moments. Families are bound to have a good time with this one, and in the end, that might be all that truly matters.
Minions: The Rise of Gru releases in theaters Friday, July 1. It is 88 minutes long and rated PG for some action/violence and rude humor.
