Twelve years later, the Minions renew themselves so they don’t lose their grace

My favorite pastime when watching any movie with the presence of the Minions continues: in a scene with a large crowd of these little monsters, I always look at the back of the frame, for sure something bizarre happens at that moment, in the background.

It is with this charm that the Minions still take children and adults to theaters. After a mediocre first film with these creatures as protagonists, but without the big-hearted supervillain, “Minions II: The Origin of Gru” manages to rescue the main characteristics of the franchise: humor and the “mini-boss”.

The film’s story takes place in the 1970s, when Gru is still a villainous project admiring the criminal group “Vicious 6”. When this gang kicks out their leader, Gru sees a chance to work with his favorite villains, even though he’s only 11 years old. He, of course, is snubbed, but he doesn’t give up on attracting the group’s attention and, for that, he counts on the help of the Minions.

With a veritable cast of stars voicing the original version, including Steve Carell (Gru), Michelle Yeoh (Master Chow), Alan Arkin (Wild Knuckles) and Taraji P. Henson (Belle Bottom), the film entertains with well-crafted animation and dynamic story, which breaks down only at the end of the second act, with an edit that seems crazy to finish the film.

However, it’s the great soundtrack that works like the cherry on the banana split. The artists St. Vincent, Tame Impala, RZA and Thundercat cover sensational covers of Diana Ross, Earth, Wind & Fire and Lipps, Inc.

It lacked an original song to enter the new decade on the right foot, like “Happy”, by Pharrell Williams , from the movie “Despicable Me 2” (2013)? It lacked, but nothing that discourages the experience of seeing the minions’ antics.

It’s a fun movie because it manages to balance what its last predecessors couldn’t. The first Minions movie, set in the 2020s, shows that Gru doesn’t exist without his henchmen and vice versa.

Gru without the Minions is just a clumsy figure, with a strange accent, and the Minions without Gru lose their main essence: to serve a master, even if it’s their own way.

If the Minions saga continues to reinvent itself, we’ll have these creatures around for a long time to come.

Minions Multiverse

It was in 2010, with the movie “Despicable Me”, when the yellow monster fever started. Unpretentiously, they were presented as the faithful and clumsy henchmen of the villain Gru, a character imagined to reap all the laurels of the franchise. Then, in view of the fame and prominence that the Minions achieved, some shorts were made with them and soon came the continuation of “Despicable Me”, released in 2013.

The henchmen’s success only grew and the first feature dedicated solely to them, “Minions” (2015) was released and, finally, the third “Despicable Me” movie hit theaters in 2017, the latter with much less breath than than the first productions of the franchise.

During the 2010s, Minions were everywhere. On clothes, toys, sweets, movie screens and, of course, on the internet. So much exposure and so much merchandising eroded the image of these creatures, which ended up gaining political connotation here in Brazil and attracting a true legion of haters.

But before the pandemic, the propaganda around them showed no signs of letting up. The advertising campaign for “Minions II” started in 2019 as the movie was supposed to premiere in July 2020, but with the pandemic, publicity waned for a few months and then returned in full force in an attempt to get people back to their homes. movie theaters.

This exposure detox may have done the Minions some good, who honestly are funnier than ever.