I love taking my daughter to the movies. It brings me back to my childhood when my folks would take me to the multiplex to see whatever classic cartoon Disney was rereleasing. Although come to think of it when I was the age my daughter is now my parents were taking me to see raunchier fare like Beverly Hills Cop 2 and Spaceballs.
But the 2020’s are a more wholesome time than the 1980’s. My nine year old still only likes cartoons.
When I sit down next to her at the theater and see her chomping on popcorn while staring in wonder at the big screen, my critic hat gets thrown out the window. As far as I’m concerned there’s no bad movie when I’m in her presence at a theater. There’s either good movies or movies I fall asleep during. And Minions: The Rise of Gru allowed me to sleep soundly and comfortably for much of its running time.
Minions: The Rise of Gru is the fifth edition in the Despicable Me franchise. I’ve been in the same room as many of the other volumes have played on our living room television, but they never captured my attention. The animation was never very interesting and the overreliance on celebrity voices and popular music over creative stories and funny jokes was always grating.
This was my first theatrical and most intimate experience with The Minions, a group of yellow blobs who serve as henchmen for incompetent villains while speaking a combination of gibberish and Spanish. They didn’t seem quite as obnoxious as they do at home. As they partook in lazy slapstick and randomly sung along to Rolling Stones songs, their escapades made for a soothing slumber. I did occasionally get woken up by my daughter and the rest of the kids at the screening laughing and cheering, but the inanity of the movie quickly brought me back to sleep.
Is this a movie I would ever recommend an adult with a functioning brain to sit through? Definitely, no.
But when they release the inevitable sixth Minions movie I’ll be heartbroken if my daughter’s already too mature to see it with me. My sleep cycle will be upset too.
