Minions: The Rise Of Gru Review - A Fun, Yet Slight Despicable Me Prequel
Back in 2010, a franchise was born when so-called supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) dipped his toes into fatherhood with Illumination's Despicable Me. Now, 12 years later, Gru gets something of an origin story in director Kyle Balda's Minions: The Rise of Gru, which also serves as the sequel to the first Despicable Me prequel. Released in 2015, Minions was an unexpected box office smash, becoming the then-second-highest-grossing animated movie of all time. Pandemic delays have pushed The Rise of Gru back considerably, and now it finally arrives. Whether it was worth the wait will ultimately be determined by the audiences it was made for, but it is certain that this is a sequel that does manage to surpass the original. While Minions: The Rise of Gru still can't entirely justify itself, it does provide a far more heartfelt and fun outing than its predecessor.
Picking up sometime after Minions, The Rise of Gru starts with neither of its title entities, but instead a supervillain group known as the Vicious 6. After successfully stealing a powerful stone, leader Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin) is dealt a heavy blow when his apparent second, Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), stages a coup and takes control of the group. Elsewhere, aspiring supervillain Gru is delighted to receive an invitation to interview for the Vicious 6's newly opened position. Gru shrugs off the help of his loyal Minions and heads off to meet his dream, though things go decidedly sideways when Belle Bottom laughs at him instead. To retaliate, Gru nabs the stone in an attempt at proving his villainy. Naturally, things go even more sideways from there, leaving Minions Bob, Stuart, Kevin, and Otto (all voiced by Pierre Coffin) to save their «Mini Boss.»
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