Minions
3D (2015/Universal Blu-ray 3D w/Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture:
B+/B+/B Sound: B+/B+/B Extras: C+ Film: B-
After
two successful appearances in Despicable Me and Despicable
Me 2, the Minions got their own film; the aptly named Minions
(2015).
The
film is fun and humorous as we are treated to a feature length
display into the lives of the yellow faced, goggle toting creatures
as they search for the world’s most evil criminal mastermind. The
film kicks off with The Turtles
classic 'Happy Together,' as we are then whisked off to
experience the evolution of 'The Minion.' Minions started as single
celled creatures that eventually evolved (based on their DNA) to
serve the most reprehensible of villains; the film taking us through
the evolution of caveman to eventually serving Napoleon. After some
mishaps we find the Minions huddled down and bundled up in a cave in
Antarctica without much purpose in their lives.
Eventually
we see the boys pack their bags as they head to Orlando, Florida for
a Super Villain Convention in hopes of finding their next master.
Kevin, Stuart, and Bob are the three Minions that take center stage
as rebels of the group (or at least three stand outs) as they have
the most concentrated jokes. There is a moment where on their
travels to Orlando they meet up with a Bank robbing family headed by
Michael Keaton and Allison Janney that plays fun for a bit, before
the story quickly moves along. The crew ends up serving the evil
Scarlet Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock) and her inventor husband
(voiced by Jon Hamm), who order the yellow creatures to steal the
Queen's crown.
Ultimately
the film feels like a string of short, slapstick bits rather than one
coherent structure. This being a prequel, the audience already
possesses the insight (from Despicable Me 1 & 2) that The
Minions inevitably end up with Gru; and what could have been an
enjoyable jaunt through Minion history felt scattered and forced.
That is to say that a more focused film (even early in minion
history) that isolated the characters, rather than throwing the same
slapstick bits in the viewers' faces, would have been much more
worthwhile.
This
reviewer may be too picky as I did not think Minions balanced
the adult-centric humor and childlike humor enough, making the film
quite one sided and in turn not as enjoyable as it could have been.
Concurrently I feel there can be too much of a 'good thing;' that is
to say that characters like the Minions or Kramer from Seinfeld do
not need their own show or feature film as they are better served in
small doses. The brief and sporadic appearances of the Minions in
the two previous films are what made them household favorites;
whereas a 85-minute film was just too much.
Whereas
the film was mediocre, the 3D Blu-ray and standard Blu-ray
presentations were very nicely done. The 3D does lean more towards
the 'in your face,' 'pop-out' effects which can be (like much of the
film) too much at times, but remained fun and visually pleasing. The
picture is presented in a 1080p, 1.85 X 1 AVC MPEG-4 that is crisp,
clean and clear throughout with vividly bright colors. The textures
and details are amazingly well done as you can seemingly see every
hair and fiber. Light and Dark are well balanced, with no contrast
issues to note.
The
3D is fun as already mentioned; demonstrating moments of brilliance,
but in the end is a mixed bag of awesome, distracting, and other
times oddly flat. The sound is available in lossless Dolby Atmos
tracks as well as a 7.1 Dolby TrueHD mix. The Dolby Atmos (sadly) is
not quite as nice as certain recent DTS tracks or even the stunningly
better Dolby True HD on this set in mixdown (we'll have to hear the
11.1 later) mixed down oddly in different ways on a few systems we
tried it on. The surrounds are used, but can be at times absent
coming heavily from the front as well as failing to have adequate
panning effects. The entire Atmos experience fails to immerse the
viewer in those mixdowns for whatever reason. The TrueHD on the
other hand makes full use of the surrounds, contains solid
directionality, and the musical scores truly bring film to life.
The
extras are minimal, but fun as they include:
The
film was not BAD, it just wasn't great as it seemed to (nearly)
completely cater to the younger audience with a slapstick script,
rather than deliver a solid film with slapstick elements. It should
be noted it was one of the highest grossing films of the year and
children remain obsessed with the banana like creatures.
-
Michael P. Dougherty II
