Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give a brief review and recommendation. This week, we are taking a look at the first film to be selected by followers on the blog’s Instagram account: Minions: The Rise of Gru, the sequel to 2015’s Minions and prequel to the Despicable Me trilogy that released to record-breaking success at last weekend’s box office and continues to wow audiences. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B; solid, definitely watchable animated family flick

Should you Watch This Film? Yes, it’s a mostly enjoyable if a little bit imperfect animated film. Kids will absolutely love this, as will fans of the Despicable Me/Minions franchise.

Why?

                Minions: The Rise of Gru does not try to stray from its lane in the entertainment world and succeeds greatly for that. It gets back to the formula of the original Despicable Me, playing on a combination of rude and witty visual and verbal humor with original characters and worldbuilding all with a heartfelt message about family. What this sequel does well is comedy, setting, and message. As an adult with no kids, I went with my wife to see this film and sat down the row from a group of small children who were absolutely losing it at everything the Minions did, giving the film a more endearing film for sure, because it was succeeding with its target audience. However, I also found myself laughing at jokes and gags that definitely went over my younger peers’ heads and never felt that I had made a huge mistake in going to see what all the buzz was about (might’ve also helped that I went on a discount ticket day, idk). The setting of 1970s America comes through from the opening sequence and carries through in the different characters, vehicles, and situations for basically the entirety of the film; it is apparent that the animators and writers wanted this to stay true to the setting, and they achieved that. The message of the film is fairly simple, but effective: We need people to live life well and should treat other people well if we want to see that happen. It comes through in the young Gru’s relationship with the Minions that develops throughout the film from frustration to appreciation and care and is also reflected in the development of the relationships of the other villains in the film (all of which are very well-themed and fit the setting well). It’s a good message for both kids and adults to remember to treat the people around us well. With all of its high points, the film does struggle a bit on the story side. There are a lot of moments where things just happen in this film, especially in the film’s action-packed third act. I wish there was just a little bit more explanation of a certain object’s abilities before it got used, and I could also have used some more in between moments showing how the main Minions (Kevin, Stuart, and Bob) got to the final showdown. The final showdown itself is pretty entertaining; it’s just the moments immediately leading up to it that feel a little bit rushed. I feel like they could have added like five more minutes of content (barely breaking the 90-minute mark can’t be that cardinal of a sin) and made this an even more enjoyable film for the adults that will inevitably watch this. If you can suspend certain expectations about story and plot holes, Minions: The Rise of Gru is a delightful family film that delivers solid comedy, well-developed 70s characters and settings, and a simple but relevant message. Check it out in theaters, or wait for it to come to streaming, but this is definitely worth watching at some point.