Minions (2015) review

Prequel to the Despicable Me movies has the little babbling Twinkies (with overalls and goggles) in relentless search - across millennia - to find the perfect evil boss to obey. One of the problems with this cash-grab movie for kids is the fact that the minions are basically indistinguishable from each other (they were all voiced by co-director Coffin) aside from a select few physical differences (some have one eye, some have hair) so even when the movie breaks three of them off (Stuart, Bob and Kevin) to team up with generic power-mad Scarlett Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock), they're still basically nondescript, unintelligible ("Banana!" is about all you'll get unless you're a polyglot) and irritating. Of course, Balda and Coffin (along with screenwriter Brian Lynch) set it in England in the late 60's, which provides ample opportunity to mine British culture of all its cultural clichés (bad teeth, the cover of Abbey Road, The Who, etc.). Taking minor characters from the Madagascar movies - the sneaky Penguins - and giving them their own feature didn't work either ... though I'm still waiting for the Scrat movie (from Ice Age).