This is the prequel to the despicable me films, and follows the trials of a group of minions as they are on the hunt for their 'big boss' (of evil). The focus is on 3 specific minions (and a teddy bear called Tim), as they hunt and (in an evil way) set out to save the day.

I went into this film ready for a nice relaxing bit of fun that I can just ride for the next 90 minutes. There was a little concern over how this would play out, but that was mainly because the last CG film I saw was 'home', which is absolutely awful. Luckily, I re-watched 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs' which helped me get over that.

Could this film stand up against the others in the series though? Especially as the minions don't speak a language as such, rather a cobbled together set of words from various places.

Ultimately, this film actually did work quite well, it was funny and the minions style of classic visual humour worked really well. The cinema-full of kids seemed to really enjoy it, as did I. That said, it wasn't as good as I had hoped. I went in expecting something a little cleverer, not too much, but just something subtle to add a little more than the classic slapstick, this was sadly not the case. This lack of confidence in the audience went right up to the last scene where it deemed it necessary to tie into the future films a little too much. I would have loved an open ending, a little more like the classic tv shows where at the end of each episode they walked into the distance, looking for their next big boss whilst Willie Nelsons 'On the road again' is playing in the background. But alas no.

I don't mean to over-criticise this film though, it was fun, and suitable for all, which is always a hard thing to do. Also, when you compare with the other big CG hit this year (Home), it was so much better and more enjoyable. The narrator alone (Geoffrey Rush) was an excellent choice, and I would have loved more of him going through the film.

On thing to take-away is the great choice in voice over case. There are many excellent actors/actresses in the list, but none that you feel are purely there for star power. They could easily have gone for a member of One Direction or something which would have certainly made the film feel too much like a PR piece marketing towards kids (that is not to say that I haven't been seeing minions in every shop window in town right now)

My wifes review:
Ba-na-nas!!!
(yes, I know this isn't really a review, but it was said with such glee, I would take it as a positive review)