First published 2015, www.thefilmology.wordpress.com
Minions is a postmodernist critique of our gimmick-driven, consumerist society. It implicates the audience in a severe cautionary parable about the way our entertainments industry is falling. If we, the consumer do not begin to discern between the immediate gratification of a shock laugh and the postponed enrichment of true insight and growth then we will soon be drowning in a sea of yellow.
As the viewer looks into the void, the void begins to look back into them. The madness of basing a film around an insipid sideshow attraction; a one line, depthless joke; a suerficial slapstick spectacle is so potent that the viewer begins to feel their own sanity slip away. Like Heath Ledger’s joker we have seen the true face of mankind. We finally perceive the depths to which the human race has sunk and we can do naught but laugh. I suppose in that way – the only way – it succedes in fulfilling the promise of a film labelled “comedy”.
Nah, fuck that it’s a dumb kids movie about little, jauniced children (I just stole the best line in the film.) The Minions are not so different from the old Warner Brothers’ cartoons but in the place of a snide, sneering bunny rabbit we have the wide eyed, kind hearted Minions. The appeal of the creatures is clear in this post-Shrek, post-Dreamworks cynical satire state. They are characters driven by a desire to help others. They’re innocent and I think we missed innocence.
On the other hand who cares? It’s not particularly funny, it lacks the emotional heart of Despicable Me and the appearance of Gru at the end makes the entire film feel pointless. If the Minions’ best is before them (chronologically) then why not just watch that film that came out five years ago? Maybe feel the joy of Inside Out instead.
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