The Despicable Me franchise has been making its way into pop culture since its first film in 2010. The Minions, the little yellow henchmen of super-villain Gru, have taken on a life of their own, now having two solo movies in the franchise, including Minions and now Minions: The Rise of Gru. It baffles me how this franchise has remained so popular not only among children, but among millennials and Gen Z.
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Having seen the first Despicable Me and now this Minions film, the quality of these films is so low it pains me to see the box office soar for them. I love kid films, mostly Disney, but some Dreamworks and Sony films have taken me by surprise as well. Even The Grinch from Illumination has become a favorite of mine. With that said, Minions: The Rise of Gru is a trainwreck with very little to enjoy.
First off, this movie’s structure is extremely disjointed. It starts with a conventional plotline and structure, as expected, but then turns into vignettes of the Minions doing Taekwondo, flying a plane, etc. totally separating themself from Gru for almost the entirety of the film. If I wanted to see scenes pieced together of animated characters going on excursions I would watch cartoons. Instead, Minions: The Rise of Gru does not use its film medium to create a story worth telling.
Also, banking a movie off of characters people find adorable is a terrible way to make children’s entertainment. It is a simple cash grab with no thought to giving the film any quality or merit. I am perfectly fine with entertaining animated films that don’t have a big message, but this movie is not even entertaining at all. Within the first 30 minutes, I was looking at my watch hoping the film would end so I could leave. It was actually painful to watch for an hour and a half.
Despicable Me is one of the laziest franchises that somehow remain popular. I can’t imagine how painful the others are to watch if Minions: The Rise of Gru is one of the better ones. Clearly, the franchise doesn’t think it is above fart jokes and such as long as kids keep coming to see the movies. Simply put, I just don’t get it. Why are these movies so popular, and why do they make so much money? I do not have the slightest clue, and I never will. If you like the other films, I’m sure you’ll find this one to be suitable, but if you’re anything like me, this is a massive skip.
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