Minions: The Rise of Gru

Director Kyle Balda returns with the second installment of our favorite adorable twinkies Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Production companies; Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures released the film on the 1st of July 2022 with an opening weekend that made over $107,000,000 in the US and Canada.

As the name of the film suggests, this film aims to fill the audience and die-hard fans of the Minions franchise on how Gru came to be.

We start the film in 1976, which even to-date people say the 70s was the best decade to be alive; so we know things are about to get real funky as we first meet Belle Bottom voiced by Taraji P. Henson.

She’s part of a group of villains known as the Vicious 6 led by their leader, Wild Knuckles voiced by Alan Arkin.

The Vicious 6 which aims to become the greatest villains in the world have their eyes set on an ancient artifact known as the Zodiac Stone which will grant them powers beyond their wildest dreams when used during the Chinese New Year.

However, the Vicious 6 have other plans — like betraying their leader Wild Knuckles for being too old to keep us with their more youthful membership yet they keep Nun-Chuck voiced by Lucy Lawless who’s just as old if not older than Wild knuckles lol…

Where or how does Gru get involved in all of this?

Well as we already know from those that have watched all the Despicable Me films, Gru has aspired to become a supervillain from a very age but who inspired the young Gru, none other than Wild Knuckles himself.

Belle Bottom decides to fill up the seat of Wild Knuckles to anyone that has the brains and skills to the new member of the Vicious 6 and Gru without any hesitation applies.

It is at this interview that we meet Gru’s future assistant Dr. Nefario voiced by Russell Brand and helps Gru get to the secret interview chamber leaving him with a parting gift that foreshadows a lot about their relationship in the future.

However Belle Bottom upon seeing Gru in person assumes that someone is playing a prank on her and Jean Clawed voiced by Jean-Claude Van Damme thought Gru was a little man lol…

This is where the film gets interesting as Belle Bottom tries to demotivate Gru by insulting him for being a child and saying Gru should only return to her when he has stolen something of worth… So Gru steals the Zodiac Stone right under their noses lol…

Now that you understand the gist of things, I want to talk about some visual elements that I just can’t ignore.

To start, I’d like to say I loved the opening scene that is a reference to James Bond, and now that I think about it, Minions: The Rise of Gru has a lot of Easter Egg references to other movies.

In particular, the background to the Vicious 6’s hideout reminded me of Looney Tunes, and when Jean-Clawed took off the roof of Wild Knuckles’ home, it was surely a reference to King Kong.

And for the first time since seeing the minions, I can confidently say, I know the difference between Kevin, Otto, Stuart, and Bob.

It’s been 5 movies of these twinkies and I still had a hard time trying to figure out who is who but lucky for me, this movie made it easy for me to spot the difference lol… I hate to admit this now but that’s how proud of myself I am.

We also got to see some classical Kung-Fu action from Master Chow voiced by Michelle Yeoh whilst training the minions for their final bout against the Vicious 6 which was just stunning.

As for the main focus of the film, I think it was well written and set up for Gru to understand that he can’t do anything on his own.

For him to become a supervillain he needs to find his tribe and lucky for him, the tribe came to him and only him, plus he gets to learn from the best.

The visual scenery and screenplay throughout the film are just what I’d expect from Illumination, a visual triumph in a league of its own.

While the pacing of the film was also greatly done, I wished the film was a bit longer.

Though there is one scene that is very questionable for me, how is possible that the 70s is considered the best decade when men wore heels? There’s no way.

I feel my review might be getting too long so, let’s end it here for now.

Let me know in the comments section below what some of your favorite moments in Minions: The Rise of Gru were.

Thanks for reading…