Minions

They say you can never have too much of a good thing – a true motto, if the third film in the Despicable Me franchise is anything to go by. Those little guys in yellow who have an obsession with bananas and all things evil are back with a film to call their own, having delighted audiences as Gru's henchmen in the previous Despicable Me films. With more slapstick gags, cute smiles and nonsensical conversation than you could shake...well, a banana at, Minions is a fun and satisfyingly silly affair.

Minions acts as a prequel to the events of the first two films, charting the rise of the minions from the primordial soup and their affiliations with the bad guys of history, long before meeting Gru. No sooner as the minions enter the service of a villain, however, they prove to be the undoing of their master. From tyrannical Egyptians to Count Dracula, the minions always seem to find a way to accidentally cause their downfall. When the minions lose the battle of Waterloo for Napoleon, they are sent into exile and it is there that these happy-go-lucky yellow chaps get rather depressed at the prospect of not serving a criminal mastermind. But one minion called Kevin has an idea to venture back out into the world and, along with his fellow minions Bob and Stuart, seek out a new evil master.

The trio's quest takes them to London in the 1960s and into the service of super-villain Scarlet Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock) who has a plan to steal the Queen's crown and overthrow England. And here we have the bones of a plot which is, sadly, rather underdeveloped and which clearly plays to a younger audience than the first Despicable Me films.

The villains don't feel as dynamic or inventive as in the minions' previous outings and whilst there are some witty observations on British society (the British are far too polite to complain about being overthrown by a criminal mastermind), such comic detail never rivals the kind of jokes seen in films from, for example, Aardman Animations. Nevertheless, the film makers have approached the premise of Minions with an energy and enthusiasm which has to be admired, and there's plenty to keep both kids and big kids entertained.

If you think about it, on paper, Minions was always going to be tricky to pull off. The film's protagonists speak in 99% gibberish with the odd recognisable word thrown in (“banana!”) and to create an engaging and, importantly, funny script was always going to be a challenge. Despite this, the emphasis on visual gags, the loveable nature of the minion hordes and the interactions between Kevin, Stuart and Bob keep the film afloat.

Aside from director Pierre Coffin providing the voices for all 899 minions (imagine how many helium balloons he got through), the film features the stellar vocal talent of Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders, Geoffrey Rush, Allison Janney, Michael Keaton and, of course, Steve Carell.

Minions will delight fans of the goggled yellow people and it feels like a film which is worthy of their crazy, and often hilarious, antics. It's nothing ground-breaking and it is slightly let down by its plot but it would be very difficult to leave the cinema without wanting to take a minion home. Never has tyranny been so loveable.

Clapperboard Rating: * * * 

This review was first published in The Student Pocket Guide 

Jurassic World

There's a moment in Jurassic World when a giant aquatic dinosaur leaps from the water and engulfs a shark hanging over its pool, much to the delight of the theme park's spectators. The symbolism is obvious – this film will eat Jaws for breakfast, quite literally. References to Steven Spielberg's canon (the director served as Executive Producer) run throughout Jurassic World and, in terms of spectacle, it certainly beats Jaws and is on par with the Spielberg's Jurassic Park. Just as the original film did, Jurassic World will amaze and enthral audiences and is a pleasing, if underdeveloped, blockbuster.

Set 22 years after the events of the original film, Jurassic World takes the audience back to Isla Nublar which is now home to a theme park which would have surpassed even John Hammond's wildest dreams for a dinosaur paradise. No-one, it seems, has learnt the lessons of history. The visitor experiences and amenities are slick affairs and a consumerist culture saturates the attractions. But for all the wondrous dinosaurs roaming the island, visitor numbers are declining: the public are no longer amazed by extinct animals, even if they are 60 foot high. With corporate pressures bearing down on them, the park's owners decide to genetically engineer a big new dinosaur to attract the crowds, one with a louder roar, bigger claws and more teeth. Things, however, take a rather nasty turn when the star exhibit manages to escape from its 'high-security' enclosure.

Events in Jurassic World are as predictable as the tide and from the moment we are introduced to the Indominus Rex and her many teeth, the film's plot runs its course as you would expect. But the thing is, this doesn't matter. Indeed, it adds to the audience's enjoyment of the film and the building sense of the inevitable – people are going to get eaten.

As blockbuster fare goes, Jurassic World is about as big – and as loud – as it gets and there is something very pleasing about seeing on-screen monsters which are ostensibly fictional but are, in reality, based in fact. Of course, the idea of their revival from extinction is pure Hollywood, but the fact that such beasts once roamed the planet makes the action and subsequent death-by-eating all the more exhilarating. Some have said that the film's pacing slows in the middle but I think that it maintains a healthy pace throughout, shifting from one dinosaur escape to another, culminating in hundreds of pterodactyls descending onto the terrified crowds below.

There are several plot strands which run throughout the film, focusing on the park's director of operations, Claire (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) and her two nephews who come to visit the park. Throw in a love interest in the form of Chris Pratt's character, Owen, who is trying to train the velociraptors and a few rather shady individuals intent on developing dinosaurs as weapons, and you have a cast who commit fully to their parts but, in terms of characterisation, are rather underdeveloped.

This is the most significant problem with the film. The 1993 film (just as much of Spielberg’s work) managed to balance terrific spectacle with careful characterisation so that the audience could empathise with the characters as they were being chased by a hungry raptor. In Jurassic World, however, the special effects seem to take precedence over a coherent plot and engaging protagonists. That said, the film's script does have plenty of comic moments between the characters (in particular between Dallas Howard and Pratt) but this is, again, overshadowed by plot holes and plot developments which are seemingly forgotten about or never concluded to a satisfactory level.

I don't wish, however, to let this detract from a film which, overall, is really enjoyable and visually breathtaking. The special effects (now predominantly CGI but animatronics were also used) are impressive, especially in the film's dinosaur-on-dinosaur denouement and the raptor encounters. I genuinely found myself smiling in wonder at some of the set-pieces, feeling as I did when I first watched Jurassic Park aged ten. Swooping establishing shots of helicopters gliding over the island accompanied by John Williams' familiar theme music will satisfy every Jurassic fan. Nods and references to the first film are handled nicely and the film manages to maintain the sense of threat and fear which makes the thought of escaped dinosaurs such good screen material.

Jurassic World provides all the scares, thrills and teeth that you could want. It has a self-awareness, whether in terms of referencing its preceding films, or in the consumerist theme-park culture which has emerged in recent years, which is refreshing and it excels in its arresting action sequences. It's a shame the the characterisation lets the film down somewhat but I have to say that I still really, really enjoyed it. Now, where has that T-Rex got to...?!

Clapperboard Reviews: * * * *