Minions ... Jaundiced view

I DON'T know if it was because I hadn't had coffee or because I saw the film at 4.30pm, but I snoozed through parts of Minions. I could not ward off the inertia that swept over me. Or perhaps it was just boring.
   The minions appeared in Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2, in which they were cute, adorable and servile to Gru, the meanie voiced by Steve Carell. They get their own film in directors Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin's Minions, and I can safely say that their novelty has worn off.

  The introduction was interesting, showing how the minions came about and how they have always sought out the meanest and baddest character to worship and serve. But history has not been kind to them, for the person or animal they look up to inevitably ends up dead.
  I wonder why the directors thought they would lump Count Dracula and Bonaparte as evil people.
  Lethargy soon sets into the tribe when the members can't find anyone evil enough to look up to, that is until three of them strike out on their own to look for a baddie.
   They traverse the world and end up in New York in 1968, where flower power, hippies and psychedelic colours are the rage.
  They earn the right to serve Scarlet Overikill (voiced by Sandra Bullock), proclaimed as the most evil woman on the planet. Her goal is to usurp the British throne and knock the throne of Queen Elizabeth's head. Scarlett is ably helped by Herb (Jon Hamm).
  There's a lot of running and miscommunication between the three minions and Scarlett and Herb, but I doubt if viewers will care the least what happens.

1 1/2 stars out of 5