If you don’t know what Minions are, you clearly don’t have kids. These little yellow, be-goggled, pill-shaped, gibberish-spouting whatsits were Gru’s hench-thingies in the Despicable Me movies, for which this is a prequel of sorts.

This marketing exercise starts with a cute montage of their age-old quest to find the perfect super-villain to serve, but rapidly morphs into comically disappointing, pure movie product that’s more irritating than amusing. Bottom line: Minions are best taken in small doses. Kids under eight will be through the roof. Parents will have headaches. (91 min)