Film Review - Minions The Rise of Gru (2022)

 Minions the Rise of Gru is the fifth entry in the Despicable Me franchise and this time Steve Carrell returns as a young Gru in 1970’s America when he was just a child wanting to become a member of the Vicious Six, a group of supervillains led by Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin) who Gru idolises but when his application is rejected he steals a priceless stone but it goes missing during the escape so now Gru and the Minions must get it back and prove how despicable they can be.

 

Minions the Rise of Gru was a film that I was very much looking forward to as I am a big fan of the Despicable Me series which does not get the biggest amount of love in film circles but its one I’ve enjoyed for its colourful tone, the Minions being funny, Gru being a likeable villain and its bright animation style and while I liked the first Minions film in 2015 I think Gru coming back was a wise move as the Minions on their own couldn’t quite carry a film by themselves.

 

But Gru’s return pays off for the most part as I had a lot of fun with this movie and laughed quite a bit out loud in the cinema and firstly I love the grouping of Gru, Kevin, Stuart and Bob they make a nice quartet and one scene with them that references Jaws was very funny.

 

Also I really like the idea of the Vicious Six and the film uses them all very nicely, Arkin is fun as Wild Knuckles but there’s also Jean Clawed (Jean Claude Van Damme), Stronghold (Danny Trejo), Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren), Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson) and Nunchuck (Lucy Lawless) and all of them have great moments to shine as well both as a group as well as in individual moments where they put their skill sets to the test and one scene of them against Gru and company was a lot of fun in the cinema.

 

Also Michelle Yeoh fresh from Everything, Everywhere, All at Once has a nice small role as well as a Kung Fu teacher turned Acupuncturist and some of the gags with her character and the Minions as she tries to train them are very funny.

 

But if I have misstep about the film its how Gru is ultimately used throughout the film, while I think his return was a good move I also feel that for the middle of the film he kind of disappears a little bit, he’s still there but he is used better in the beginning and ending of the film and I think the Minions as fun as they are need Gru to help carry the films in this series.

 

And so that was Minions the Rise of Gru and I had a lot of fun watching this movie and I laughed a lot out loud and that was all I really wanted from this movie and so I give it a warm 3 and a half out of 5.