MINION MOVIE MAYHEM

FOR THEIR SEVENTH OUTING OUR LITTLE YELLOW FRIENDS HEAD BACK IN TIME TO OLD SCHOOL HOLLYWOOD

- REVIEWS BY DAMON SMITH

LIGHTS, cameras, catastrophe! If the gobbledygook-spewing yellow sidekicks ever stormed Hollywood, California’s filmmaking capital would be reduced to rubble.

And so it proves in the seventh computer-animated adventure in the Despicable Me universe.

This heartfelt valentine to the art of filmmaking, directed by Pierre Coffin, spends so much time celebrating more than a century of moviemaking magic that it forgets to carve its own footnote in that rich and sprawling history.

An amusing framing device set in the present day follows cheerful tour guide Olivia (voiced by Allison Janney) through an exhibition dedicated to Hollywood, replete with sight gags. The centrepiece is a statue of Minion duo James and Henry.

“They are legends!” gushes Olivia, “They changed Hollywood forever.” Olivia educates her clueless tour group about how Minions have gleefully served some of the most diabolical figures on Earth for centuries.