I got tired of this joke before the movie ended, but I appreciate the gusto with which the filmmakers -- particularly Coffin, with his nimble vocalizations -- carried it out.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 16, 2015

In its own helter-skelter way, Minions achieves a loony symmetry. It starts with evolution and ends with revolution.

| Jul 14, 2015

With its episodic stream of slapstick gags, Minions has moments of piquant absurdity, but mostly its shrill-but-cutesy anarchy works as a visual sugar rush for the preschool set.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 13, 2015

Fittingly, because they're pill-shaped, the Minions work best in small doses.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 12, 2015

There's plenty of high-velocity comic inanity on display to keep kids happily diverted. But the movie's major flaw is an extension of its own premise: Search as they may, the minions never find a villain worthy of their subservience.

| Jul 12, 2015

Seeing the minions end up in your Happy Meal would not have been a stretch in this absurd, tangential movie. (Actually, it would have been more to the point.)

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 10, 2015

Minions is a cute, hyperkinetic hodgepodge of '60s jokes, a rocking soundtrack and visual puns. It's just cute and clever enough to keep the wee ones entertained and the parents nodding along to an "Abbey Road" or The Who reference.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 10, 2015

It's not whether this prequel can mint money; that's a given. The questions is: Can the minions carry a movie all by their mischievous mini-selves? 'Fraid not.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 10, 2015

"Minions" is every bit as cute as it's supposed to be, a happily empty-headed animated frolic that rarely pauses to take a breath.

| Original Score: B | Jul 10, 2015

The Minions were the funniest aspect of the Despicable Me films. Stretching their supportive roles to feature length has caused their appeal to wear thin.

| Original Score: C | Jul 9, 2015

A reasonably diverting entertainment with some great visuals, a few classic songs, some good ideas, and some missed opportunities

| Original Score: B | Jul 9, 2015

While "Minions" explores nominally new narrative ground, it folds neatly into a series that now includes two features, various shorts, books, video games, sheet music and a theme park attraction. So, you know, different but also the same.

| Jul 9, 2015

Impressive as it is that the filmmakers get so much comedic mileage out of their characters' half-intelligible prattling, the conventional dialogue is bafflingly flat.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 9, 2015

The film turns its back on all but the most fleeting brand of comic anarchy.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 9, 2015

The begoggled, capsule-shaped, banana-colored scamps who stole the show in two installments of the popular Despicable Me franchise deserved something better than this indifferently animated, catch-as-catch-can venture in comedic chaos.

| Jul 9, 2015

Few gags hit solidly. Minions relies on mayhem too often - too loud, too much and too pointless.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 9, 2015

"Minions'" all-silliness all-the-time philosophy will put a smile on faces and keep it there, like a fizzy beverage on a hot afternoon.

| Jul 9, 2015

A loud, frenetic kid pleaser, though parents' brains may short-circuit.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 9, 2015

Minions may just be an excuse to cash in on the phenomenal success of the Despicable Me franchise (Part 3 already has a release date: June 30, 2017), but as crass commercial enterprises go, this prequel gives its all.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 9, 2015

Brian Lynch's screenplay features a series of amusing sight gags and physical comedy that mostly hits; watching the Minions play polo while riding Corgis is an exercise in cuteness.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 9, 2015