Henchmen

89 Minutes, Unrated (Family)

Written by Bobby Henwood, Jay D. Waxman, and Adam Wood

Directed by Adam Wood


 

Henchmen poster (Courtesy of The Lippin Group)
Henchmen poster (Courtesy of The Lippin Group)

Synopsis:

In Henchmen, a young man Lester dreams of becoming a supervillain and joins the Union of Evil as a henchman led by fallen and disillusioned Hank. Together, with Hank’s scientist friend, Jolene, they must prevent Baron Blackout from world domination.


This family-friendly animated adventure owes a lot to superhero movies that have come before it: Sky High (but for villains!), Mystery Men (for the general incompetence and the need for belonging), Minions (for the search for the perfect, evil employer), and even Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (for Nathan Fillion’s smarmy, obnoxious hero).

Heck, in some ways, it’s got a little bit of The Mouse That Roared going for it.

But Henchmen manages to take all of that source material and make it its own.

The animation style is perhaps the worst thing about the film, in that it feels like an early 2000’s PBS-friendly concoction, or perhaps a throwback to the original run of Reboot (which is a show I dearly loved, BTW).

But kids should enjoy it. Parents won’t hate it, and they’ll have fun finding the inspirations for a lot of the events, character, and even dialogue.

**EDIT: I can’t believe I forgot to mention the outstanding soundtrack for this movie, lol.**

I say watch it.

Henchmen releases Friday, December 25 (Christmas!) on Tubi, which has quite a collection of children’s/family entertainment available.

Henchmen features the voices Thomas Middleditch, James Marsden, Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina, Craig Robinson, Will Sasso, Nathan Fillion, Rob Riggle, Jane Krakowski, and Bobcat Goldthwait in this family film produced by Vertical Entertainment and Bron Studios.

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