Minions: The Rise of Gru
Young Gru origin story, no need to remember previous Despicable Me plots
The brief
This prequel to Despicable Me feels like watching Saturday morning cartoons with your brain turned off, which is exactly what it wants to be. The banana-yellow chaos moves at breakneck speed with Steve Carell's young Gru getting genuinely funny moments between the expected slapstick mayhem, while the stellar voice cast (especially Taraji P. Henson as a disco-era villain) brings more personality than these movies usually deserve. It's aggressively colorful, mercifully short, and designed to make kids shriek with laughter every thirty seconds. Perfect if you loved the original Despicable Me or need 87 minutes of pure sugar rush entertainment that won't insult your intelligence too badly.
The verdict
If you're looking for fast-paced family entertainment that prioritizes laughs over logic, this colorful prequel delivers exactly the kind of banana-fueled chaos that made the franchise beloved. If you prefer more sophisticated animation or find hyperactive slapstick exhausting, this 87-minute sugar rush will feel like sensory overload.
Watch with
- 👨👩👧👦 Perfect for family movie night with young kids
- 🧒 Kids will love the minion madness
- ⚠️ Adults might find it aggressively loud
Heads up
- Cartoon violence and mild peril (moderate)
- Very loud and chaotic throughout (frequent)
Credits
- Director
- Kyle Balda
- Cast
- Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin, Alan Arkin, Taraji P. Henson, Julie Andrews, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless
Official synopsis
A fanboy of a supervillain supergroup known as the Vicious 6, Gru hatches a plan to become evil enough to join
The Double
Make a night of it
Pair this with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)
Both feature colorful animated heroes with comedic sidekicks on adventure quests.
Total runtime: 1h 27m + 1h 40m = 3h 7m
