UKC

Went to see this today.... I really enjoyed Despicable Me, as did my children (aged 5 and 3), so we thought it would make a nice treat for them to see Minions in the cinema

Now, I like a good torture chamber and hanging scene as much as the next movie goer, but I wasn't really expecting one in a 'U' certificate film. Nor did I expect there would be a heavily armed mob, including a zombie armed with a chainsaw, chasing the main characters in a way that was not really slapstick, more '28 days later'.

And when the hero seems to be killed in a huge explosion, apparently sacrificing his life to save his friends, it was the final straw, and both of them were in floods of tears. Adults watching will be aware that the hero always finds some implausible way to survive these situations, but 3 year olds haven't seen enough films to work that out yet and tend to take what they see at face value.

Add in the urination and nudity jokes, and a full house of lazy british stereotypes, and the result is a film that is sadly charmless, poorly paced and inappropriate for its target audience.

I know family films need to work on two levels, with jokes and references to keep the parents entertained- Despicable Me did this very well- but the writers here seem to have only put in the adult stuff, and forgotten that young children will be watching.

Both said the half hour in the swing park on the way home was better than the film. Avoid, to be honest.

Cheers
Gregor

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Saw it today. 6y old loved it. Me, not so much. Scarlet was a pretty uninteresting lead character. Enjoying the darts now.

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

My daughter used to cry at the end of every film we went to even if there was a happy ending. Somehow she managed to extract something sad from the ending and had to be carried from the cinema in floods of tears. This was in the days of Toy Story, Shrek, Polar Express, Pirates of the Carribbean etc. I quite enjoyed going to watch films with my children and nowadays when I mention a film to my daughter she says she's already seen it with that young man who hovers around my house... enjoy it while you can. : -)

In reply to drmarten:

Yes, to be fair, the 5 yo is fairly easily upset- she found the Postman Pat movie last year a little unnerving (though there was a bit of a Westworld theme developed in it, with dead-eyed robotic Pat doppelgängers running amok- maybe it's my choice of films, but you'd think a cbeebies spin off would be ok!!)

The 3 yo is normally unflappable though- ive been convinced she could watch the Texas chainsaw massacre without batting an eyelid, but even she found the grisly deaths in minions upsetting!

Cheers
Gregor

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:
went to see it yesterday with the grandkids, didn't think it was to bad but definitely not as good as the despicable me films. Agree about the lazy British stereotype and uninspiring super villan, but I guess our age group isn't the target market .
the 7 year old loved it , but he does love anything with minions in it.
6 out of 10, could have done a lot better.

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Darn, I was quite looking forward to watching that, no really...

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Yes, my son and his cousin didn't like the postman pat film - they weren't expecting zombie robots - though that was a couple of years ago I think.

I think my son and I would probably enjoy the crude stereotyping Despicable me and DM too are great though aren't they?

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Saw it with a 4yr old & 8yr old. The young one was upset by several parts. It seemed a confused film with too many elements of Avengers in it for young ones.
I quite liked some sketches like the queen in the pub and the guitar smashing at the end - but they're all adult references.