By Lisa Johnson Mandell

I admit it, I’ve been captivated by these small, yellow pill-shaped characters since they first appeared in Despicable Me. Yes, I have a Minions ringtone, and I actually kept for myself the stuffed Minion I bought for my nephew for Christmas. So I’m predisposed to like this animated feature that recaps the origins of these saffron-colored cuties and enlightens us on how they eventually made their way to Gru.

I probably would have loved it even if they didn’t make the outstanding casting choices of Sandra Bullock as ’60’s super villain Scarlett Overkill, and Jon Hamm as her foppish husband Herb. And then there are Michael Keaton and Allison Janney as Walter and Madge Nelson, the parents of an aspiring super villain family who give Minions Kevin, Bob and Stuart a ride to Villain Con in Orlando. Geoffrey Rush narrates, and Steve Carrell makes a brief voice appearance as a young Gru. The combination is sublime–even by the excruciating standards of my voiceover talent agency owning husband.

There are some particular challenges in making the sidekicks the stars of their own film–especially when they don’t speak English. Those familiar with Latin-based languages like Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian will have great fun recognizing a number of words, but don’t worry if you’re unilingual — “Minionese” is mostly about how amusing the words sound — hence their preoccupation with bananas. No subtitles necessary to catch their meaning.

It’s also a challenge for filmmakers to walk the fine line between cute and saccharine, but directors Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda seem to have navigated that tightrope with ease–eg. only giving us brief glimpses of impossibly adorable Minion buns. Their clever balance makes this a film that both adults and children can enjoy together, and clever editing wraps everything up in 91 minutes–the perfect timing for a family film. Why does everyone tend to make films so arduously long these days?

With apologies to Pixar, Minions gets my vote for best animated film of the year so far. It’s delightfully silly, simple and sublime.

Rated PG

1 Hour 31 Minutes

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Minions Review — What’s Not to Love?