Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Minions: The Rise of Gru

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Apple Rating:

First of all, I am a Minions fan.  They are cute, lovable, yellow, banana lovin’ and loyal.  Their gibberish, as well as their antics, always put a smile on my face.  That being said, I didn’t like this one as well as the past Minions movies.  At first I couldn’t understand what the problem was.  They are still entertaining and the movie contains a few hilarious moments (especially on a plane) involving those cute yellow-skinned rascals!  And then I had an epiphany!  It is the Minions that make the movie.  Every time the movie was about Gru, I felt my interest wavering.  The scenes with Gru were not funny (to me anyway) and I kept on waiting for the Minions to reappear.  The Gru of Despicable Me (which I loved) is just not the same without Agnes and her siblings.  This younger, awkward, Gru comes across as just plain tedious.  So if you ignore the scenes about Gru, you may end up enjoying this movie.

Despicable Me 3

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Apple Rating:

You have to know this about me before you continue reading this review. I LOVE the Minions.  They are adorable and crack me up.  I guess  you could say these movies are my guilty pleasure.  Going into an animated movie that is made for kids when you are an adult means you have to leave all cynicism behind and just enjoy the silliness.  That being said, I found this latest installment very uneven.  The Minions are not featured in this one as much as they should be and their antics bring much needed comic relief to another wise pretty pedestrian movie.  There is a subplot about unicorns that I felt could have been edited out, but I am sure it will appeal to a lot of young girls.  I didn’t enjoy seeing Steve Carell’s Dru going “nice” so to speak.  Part of his charm is that he is, well, despicable.  Trey Parker voices the villain of the movie, Balthazar Bratt, who is truly annoying, but does  listen to an enjoyable array of retro music.  If you like the Minions, or have kids who do, I would still go see this movie.  Despite its faults, it does have Minions and that makes the whole movie worth it in my opinion.