Movie Review: Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)

Synopsis: In 1976, an 11-year-old Gru aspires to be a supervillain and thinks his dreams are about to come true when he receives an invite to interview for a position with the Vicious 6 crime team. When the team's leader, Bell Bottom, insults him, Gru tries to prove his worthiness by stealing a mystical stone from the group and, instead, finds his life in danger from both the Vicious 6 and their ex-leader Wild Knuckles and it is up to the Minions to save the day.

Who's in it? The animated movie uses voices from Steve Carrell, Danny Trejo, Alan Arkin, Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme.


Review: My entire family is fans of the Minions/Despicable Me movies but, by the time I heard about this film, I had serious doubts about the quality. After all, even the best franchises grow stale after awhile. 

That's why I didn't bother paying money to see this at the theater but did take advantage of being able to see it on Peacock. We did that last night and it turned out to be a lot better than I was expecting.

I think the thing I liked best about this movie is they way it managed to showcase Gru (Carrell) as much as his Minions. The Despicable Me movies focus heavily on his high-tech weapons built by Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), who he also meets in this movie, but this film shows he has quite a solid skill set, even at a young age, and might have been able to be a supervillain even without the help.

The film also wasn't as predictable as I would expect an 87-minute-long movie to be. This is mostly because of his father/son-like relationship with Wild Knuckles (Arkin). It was hard to tell if Knuckles really was interested in being Gru's mentor or if he would eventually turn on him at the first opportunity.

One thing I would have loved to have seen from this movie is a little more detail about Gru's relationship with his mom (Julie Andrews). She was more of a background character with a few lines and I think the film missed an opportunity to show how much of an influence she was on his desire to be a supervillain, especially when she seemed more concern about the damage to her home than with the fact her son was in danger.

Final Opinion: I had some doubts about this sequel, but it turned out to be a fun and entertaining movie that we liked. I would recommend it.

My Grade: A

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kwik Trip Kitchen Cravings Tailgater Pizza

Image
  When my wife and I decided on pizza for dinner last night, I stopped at Kwik Trip with the intention of just buying a cheap, frozen, cheese pizza for our daughters since we already had another pizza in our freezer. However, as I was walking up to the checkout counter, this particular pizza caught my eye and, even though I wasn't crazy about spending $8.99 when I already had another option at home, I was intrigued enough to make the purchase anyway. We ended up making the pizza in the oven when I got home. After trying it, I have to say it is one of my favorites. One of the things, in particular, that really stood out for me when it came to this pizza was the toppings. The combination of sausage and cheese curds was both unique and delicious, especially since the curds were fresh enough to still squeak when we were eating them. The pizza also proved to be surprisingly filling, both because of the thicker crust and the generous amounts of toppings and cheese.  Normally, when ...
Read more

Movie Review: Damsel (2024)

Image
Synopsis: Elodie, the oldest daughter of Lord Bayford, reluctantly agrees to an arranged marriage with Prince Henry in the far-off land of Aurea because her bride price will provide much-needed relief to the starving residents of her homeland. When they arrive for her wedding, Elodie quickly warms up to the idea after seeing Aurea's beauty and even falling in love with Henry. However, soon after the wedding, she discovers it has all been a farce and she instead is thrown into a cave as a peace offering for the dragon living inside. Who's in it? The movie stars  Millie Bobby Brown ,  Ray Winstone ,  Angela Bassett ,  Robin Wright  and  Nick Robinson Review: My wife and I decided to watch a movie late yesterday evening and after striking out on horror films lately, ended up changing things up a bit with the fantasy adventure, Damsel . My wife thought it looked good from the trailer and I enjoyed Millie Bobby Brown in the Enola Holmes movies, so we had cau...
Read more

Movie Review: Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie (2023)

Image
Synopsis: Despite showing improvement after solving his wife, Trudy's murder, the pandemic caused Adrian Monk to regress, and he now plans on killing himself after Trudy's daughter, Molly, is married. However, a day before the wedding, Molly's fiancé, Griffin is killed while bungee jumping. While a coroner's inquiry determined it was an accident, Molly believes Griffin was killed by Rick Eden, a billionaire and wannabe astronaut Griffin was about to expose for murder. Even though he isn't convinced by Molly's theory, he delays his suicide so he can investigate and bring her closure. Who's in it? The movie stars Tony Shalhoub , Traylor Howard , Ted Levine , James Purefoy and Caitlin McGee. Review: I used to be a huge fan of the television series Monk and still occasionally watch reruns when I can't find anything else on TV. So, when I heard there was going to be a movie based on the series, I was intrigued albeit a bit skeptical. I finally had a chan...
Read more