6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.1 |
Minions are small, yellow creatures who have only one purpose: to serve the most ambitious villains. After accidentally destroying all their masters, they start a new life in Antarctica. By 1968, the lack of a master drives them into depression, so they set out to find a new one. At a villain convention, they compete for the right to be henchmen for Scarlet Overkill, who wants to become the first female super-villain.
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve CooganFamily | 100% |
Animation | 85% |
Comedy | 72% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
BD-Live
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Minions is a movie made of many simplicities. The journey-based plot is as basic as they come, the characters are essentially a yellow pill with four limbs and an eye or two, the action and humor feel modern animation-stock, and the animation is great but nothing particularly novel or exciting for the 2015 digital age. But the movie wants to thrive on the approachability that comes with that simplicity. It's tailored to the youngest of audiences, viewers who will adore the colors and the gibberish and dismiss the fact these are in fact bad guys because, well, cute>bad. Indeed, it's cute. Really cute. But many in the audience with a vocabulary that's even only a notch more advanced than the movie's main characters may very well find it too much of too little, meaning that the movie is so prone to simply jump from colorful scene to colorful scene and silly audible cue to silly audible cue that the barrage of fluff only exposes, rather than hides, the vacuous center. The youngest kids won't mind. They'll be happy to curl up with their Minions plush and enjoy the silly ride. Older kids and adults may very well find the movie funny, too (and pick up on some of its fun little easter eggs, like when the Minions find themselves literally popping up into the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album), but otherwise lacking in pretty much every other area of concern.
Road trip!
Minions looks quite nice in high definition. Universal's 1080p transfer is colorful and highly detailed. The yellow minions and their blue overalls are, of course, the unquestioned highlight, both taking on a very simple and consistent hue that defines the characters in a very tangible, adorable way. A multicolored 60's-themed van, various items in store shops around towns, Scarlet Overkill's red attire and vehicles, and other colors are also showy and precise. Details are excellent. Image clarity, beyond a very slight look of razor-thin film hanging over the image, is excellent. Basic character and location shapes are sharp and precise, but the image really dazzles down at the finer detail levels where viewers will enjoy little clothing textures, fine wear on Minion goggles, intimate textures on Scarlet's ship's controls, and natural and manmade environmental surface textures, some of which nearly pass for photorealistic. There's some truly amazing stuff here. Best, of course, are the minions themselves, who are fairly flat and smooth but who reveal a very precise rubbery, sort of nearly tangibly lifelike, texture that the Blu-ray showcases with appealing ease. Essentially, the Blu-ray captures the very broadest elements and finest little nuances that the digital filmmakers have included with every bit the exactness one would expect of a movie of this style. The transfer suffers from no discernible bouts of banding, aliasing, or other artifacts that can distract from a digitally animated film. Universal's Blu-ray is excellent in every way imaginable.
Minions features a Dolby Atmos (core Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless) soundtrack. This review pertains to the TrueHD track. It's playful and healthy, nicely spaced throughout and robust and weighty when necessary. The Minions' rendition of the Universal theme music not only sets a playful tone for the movie but a standard of expectations for the track. The humming is well defined, spacing is superb, and a deep supportive low end fills out the experience. There are plenty of classic tunes heard throughout the movie, some playing as everyone knows them and others instead performed by the Minions and their gobbledygook. In either case, musical definition is exacting, and as with the opening studio theme, well spaced and supportively weighty. Surrounds are engaged throughout, with various bits of mischievous action and chaos spilling through the entire listening area. Little details that seem trivial spring to life to help better create the movie's fluid sound stage and dynamics. Bass is a highlight, particularly near the end when a large character lumbers through London and vocalizes with a prodigious bit of deep, rattly booms. General dialogue -- whether intelligible words from human characters or the Minion gibberish (with some recognizable words in a myriad of languages thrown into the fray) -- is clear and precise. This is a fantastic all-around track from Universal.
Minions contains a few extras, highlighted by a trio of mini-movies. A DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy are
included with purchase.
Minions works just fine as a colorful diversion that will satisfy the kids. In fact, it'll probably delight them. But in a marketplace filled with terrific animated movies that both kids and adults can love for their own reasons, Minions leaves the older crowd in the cold, catering exclusively to those more enticed by sight and sound than story depth and purpose. That's not a bad thing, and there's a reason why the movie cleaned up at the box office: it knows its audience and delivers what its audience wants. It's just a bit more focused on its younger audience's immediate wants and needs rather than trying to expand into a multigenerational classic. Universal's Blu-ray release of Minions delivers high end video and audio. An fair amount of brief extras are included. Recommended.
2015
Deluxe Target Exclusive
2015
Exclusive Character Packaging and bonus content
2015
2015
Sing Fandango Cash
2015
2015
2015
Secret Life of Pets 2 Fandango Cash
2015
2015
Minions: The Rise of Gru Fandango Cash
2015
2012
2016
2014
2016
with 2 Poppin' Penguins Toys
2014
2012
2009
2015
2016
2006
2005
2012
Special Edition
2017
2010
2011
2013
Special Edition
2017
2019
2012
Collector's Edition
2024