Minions The Rise of Gru Review: A Villain Will Rise

The second Minions movie has hit theatres, and it is a good one. Steve Carell is back as Gru, and Pierre Coffin is back as all of our minions. The talent from that man is off the charts, and further on display in Minions: The Rise of Gru. The reviews from elsewhere have been less than pleasing, with IGN offering up a 5.0/10, and Metascore giving the movie a 56/100. I’m going to be frank here, but they are wrong.

Minions: The Rise of Gru is both hilarious and captivating. Between the laughs we get a decent plot that tells the story in a simple way. It’s only an hour and 27 minutes, so length is not at all an issue here. Regardless of your age or movie-preference, Minions 2 is a ton of fun. With references to the 70s that even I, a Gen Z, was able to understand, there is something for everyone.

What is Minions: The Rise of Gru About?

Very simply put, Minions: The Rise of Gru is centred around Gru’s attempt to join the Vicious Six at 12-years old. With the help of Kevin, Bob, Stuart and Otto, Gru tries to prove to the world that he is more of a villain than his measly frame suggest. As expected, our minion friends run into their fair share of issues and troubles, and they are unexpectedly relatable.

Should you Watch Minions: The Rise of Gru?

If you enjoyed any of the other 4 Despicable Me movies, this is going to be a blast. Based on the first Minions movie, I was fairly excited for the second. Minions: The Rise of Gru blew my expectations out of the water. I was a little bit concerned about it being too short, with every movie being 2+ hours these days, but the pacing was perfect.

The plot was short and sweet, not a large focus of this movie, but present enough to keep everything rolling along. It’s the kind of plot that adds to the comedy, artificially crafting situational irony. I loved it. It allowed for the movie to still be really good in between jokes. Obviously, it wasn’t fantastic, but we still saw most if not all of the major plot phases, which I was impressed by. This movie didn’t need a compotent plot, but it got one anyways.

Per usual, our characters were really simpler but really well done. The fact that most people are able to understand the minions, regardless of the gibber-gabber that is minionese, shows a lot about the animation and storytelling behind this movie. The little bits of English mixed with hilarious body language makes Bob, Stuart, and Kevin almost understandable. Otto is our newest minion, and he is hilarious. He is the over-energetic kid that cannot stop talking and loves to share everything with everyone. He is also a little bit slow. While Otto is hilarious, he also brings another side to the minions, and he is more relatable than I expected. I was surprised to see he had a true character arc in this movie, and some character development. Not what I had expected, but I was rooting for Otto long before the movie was over.

I really didn’t anticipate this movie being so funny. The reviews were bad, lots of talk of not being funny enough, and then I got to the theatre and could not stop laughing. I probably laughed for an entire hour of Minions: The Rise of Gru, and continued to laugh at things walking out of the theatre as well. IT was simple, basic humour that didn’t require a lot of thinking. Funny is funny in this movie, and it was funny for a large range of audiences. You don’t need to be a small child to laugh your ass off, you just need to watch Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Minions: The Rise of Gru has taught me two things, well 1 and a half things. Firstly, reviews from most large sites continue to suck and feel like a joke themselves. Even our reviews aren’t going to be representative of more than just our opinion, so take them as that, an opinion. Don’t ever let a review sway you from seeing a movie you had high hopes for. Secondly, the Minions are still funny 7 years later. Although I am at a totally different stage in my life than the first one, I still loved every second of this movie and cannot wait to watch it again.

If someone complains that the MINIONS MOVIE focuses on the MINIONS too much, instead of Gru, ONE MORE TIME, I’ll continue to comment on IGN’s lack of knowledge. Thanks for reading and let me know what you thought of Minions: The Rise of Gru.

What is next for the Minions?

So far, while we don’t know a ton, it does sound like our yellow friends will be back for a 6th movie. Slated for 2024, Despicable Me 4 is confirmed, with Steve Carell and Pierre Coffin reprising their roles as well.