LM23 Rating: A star-studded cast that’s reduced to cameos as it’s all about Gru and his idol, Wild Knuckles
The first Minions was released 7 years. Minions 2: The Rise of Gru was originally slated to be released in July 2020, so it’s a good thing the film is set in 1976 and is futureproof. I’ve been excited to see Minions 2 for a long time. The first Minions was surprisingly hilarious thanks to the crazy and cuddly creatures. Although they all look very similar, each Minion has its own personality and is doing something that requires you to pay attention.
The Rise of Gru really is about Gru
Minions was set in the 60’s and introduced us to how the Minions became the denim wearing troublemakers that they are today. A child Gru was seen very briefly at the start of the film. Minions 2 gives fans the opportunity to learn more about how Gru ended up on his path to Evildom.
I know the film title is about the rise of Gru, but, I wished the plot was focused on his hired help versus Gru himself. In Minions 2, an 11-year-old Gru is on his way to joining his evil heroes, the Vicious 6. The Vicious 6 are: Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin), Stronghold (Danny Trejo), Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren), Nunchuck (Lucy Lawless), and Jean-Clawed (Jean-Claude Van Damme).
The Vicious 6 go through a re-org when they boot out the senior and oldest team member, Wild Knuckles. And like most corporate restructures, they kick the old man out after he goes through the trouble of stealing a green stone that can turn anyone in an animal from the Chinese zodiac by Chinese New Year. With a job opening to fill, the Vicious 6 put out a job ad requesting interested applicants to come to a secret location for an interview.
Despite being 11-years-old and still in school, Gru makes his way to the job interview and ditches the Minions (who follow him there anyway). The new leader of the Vicious 6, Belle Bottom, scoffs at the little Gru and tells him to scram. Gru steals the green stone and along with Kevin, Bob, Stuart, and Otto (the new featured Minion), run away with it. Otto is given the responsibility to take the green stone home while the others try to get the Vicious 6 off their tail.
Gru is kidnapped and the loyal Minions run to save him
The movie is very strong at this point as we’re seeing equal time for the humans like Gru and the Vicious 6 and with the Minions. However, the movie starts to weaken when Otto ends up trading the green stone for a pet stone and Gru erupts in a rage. Gru “fires” the Minions and as he leaves the house to find the green stone, he is kidnapped by what turns out to be Wild Knuckles.
At this point, I thought the focus was going to be mainly on Kevin, Bob, Stuart, and Otto and their mobilization to go and rescue Gru. The Minions are loyal to Gru and you could feel how scared and upset they were when they saw Gru be taken away. But that is not how the rest of the film played out.
Instead, we get a bit of the Minion’s adventures in going to rescue Gru and then we get Gru’s adventures with Wild Knuckles. Although this second half of the film isn’t terrible by any means, I thought there was more emotional depth when we had the Minions working with Gru or when the Minions were doing all they can to get to Gru. Gru on his own or with other humans is not as interesting as Gru with the Minions.
The strong connection between Gru and Minions weakens as the movie progresses
I would have liked to have seen more about what Gru was thinking when he was kidnapped by Wild Knuckles. He didn’t mention anything about the Minions or even his mom (Julie Andrews). It’s as if they all became an afterthought after he realized it was Wild Knuckles who kidnapped him. And even when the Minions finally meet up with Gru, all he said was something the effect of “well of course you’re all not fired.” He had fired them when he got angry at Otto for losing the green stone.
There was no hugging or cheering which was quite different from the beginning when Gru was willing to let the Minions sleep in his bed and when he was so happy when he thought Otto retrieved the green stone. You really felt as if the relationship between Gru and the Minions was a familial one especially when school was let out and everyone ran to their mom’s and dad’s and Gru ran to the Minions dressed like his mom and dad.
The Minions meet up with an acupuncturist/Kung Fu master (Michelle Yeoh) in San Francisco Chinatown. She ends up training the Minions for their battle against the Vicious 6. This training montage is very funny, but feels a bit forced and random. It may have been more believable if say Gru was taking lessons from Master Chow since he’s so wanting to be an evil villain and the Minions would have known to get her help when Gru was kidnapped. But there’s no connection between Master Chow and Gru though Master Chow does appear at Wild Knuckles’ funeral at the end. The funeral at the end was also a bit of a surprising downer. Even though Wild Knuckles did not die, it was still a shock to see a funeral scene complete with the Minions carrying the casket.
The unevenness of the film is made up for by the personalities of the Minions
Despite some of the unevenness, Minions 2: The Rise of Gru does a good job at fleshing out the personalities of the Minions and the new Minion, Otto. Even when they turn into other animals by the Vicious 6, the way they’re still committed to fighting was hilarious. I would have liked to have seen the Vicious 6 remain humans rather than turning into animals themselves with the green stone. That switch up near the end made the film lose a bit of its charm. Each of the Vicious 6 have funny and creative names and all were played by a notable name, that it seemed unnecessary to transform them into animals. The brevity of the film (90 minutes) helps minimize the disappointment of these shortcomings. Go see Minions 2: Rise of Gru. It’s a solid follow-up to Minions.
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