Review: 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' is an empty space where they didn't put in jokes

There are only so many jokes one can wring out of tiny yellow blobs who talk gibberish — and that point was reached well before the new “Minions: The Rise of Gru” was a twinkle in Illumination Entertainment’s greedy little eyes.

As the second movie in which the Minions are in the titular role (not counting the three “Despicable Me” movies), “Minions: The Rise of Gru” is the bridge movie that shows how the little yellow rascals helped the budding supervillain (again voiced by Steve Carell) in his pre-teen days.There’s probably potential for solid laughs from this idea, but the directing team of Kyle Balda, Brad Ableson and Jonathan del Val, and screenwriter Matthew Vogel, can’t find them.

Instead, the movie plops into 1976, and a whole lot of elbow-in-the-ribs references to disco and tacky fashion. It also introduces us to the Vicious 6, a squad of supervillains led by the Pam Grier-like Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson) and aging bad guy Wild Knuckles (voiced by Alan Arkin). The rest of the squad is quickly name-checked, though except for Nun-Chuck (a nun who uses nunchucks, get it?), they’re pretty forgettable. (They’re voiced by a gaggle of action stars — Lucy Lawless, Danny Trejo, Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme — who maybe get a line each, making you wonder why they bothered.)

When the gang tosses Wild Knuckles out of the squad while heisting the rare and mystical Zodiac Stone, Gru joins the line of would-be replacements. Belle Bottom & Co. laugh at the kid Gru, but he’s determined to prove himself — which he does by stealing the just-stolen Zodiac Stone, with help and some hindrance from his Minions. 

Wild chases ensue, but hilarity does not. What the movie serves up are references to things that were funny in past installments, such as Gru’s mom (voiced by Julie Andrews) belittling him, or Dr. Nefario (voiced by Russell Brand) talking about his love of gadgets. These moments do not offer actual jokes, just placeholders and reminders of jokes from earlier movies.

The closest thing “Minions: The Rise of Gru” offers to fresh humor is a bit where three of the Minions (all voiced by Pierre Coffin) meet a retired kung-fu master (voiced by Michelle Yeoh) who is now an acupuncturist — and can manipulate her customer’s muscles just by adjusting her needles. That’s one minute out of 87 where this rehash of a movie served something new.

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‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’

★

Opens Friday, July 1, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for some action/violence and rude humor. Running time: 87 minutes.