Minions will always work best as side characters.

I enjoyed the first two Despicable Me films, and really liked the Minions in those movies. That's because they were side characters and weren't the focus of the film.

It's similar to the Penguins of Madagascar - although I liked that film better than Minions, it was just OK and didn't work out to brilliantly because the Penguins worked best as side characters in the Madagascar films.

Another example is Puss in Boots in the Shrek films - I love the first two Shrek films, especially the second film which introduces Puss in Boots, but I didn't like his standalone film very much because he's supposed to be a side character with a big role, but not the main focus.

Heck, this could even be applied to Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Although he's always been the main focus on the posters and Depp has always had top billing, the first film (and even the second and third, to a certain extent)'s main focus was on Will and Elizabeth. Sparrow was just an awesome character who was the biggest person on the poster and who lead Will to Elizabeth in that cave, and who fought Barbossa at the end. This is also why I hated the fourth film - no Will and Elizabeth, and no one to take their place fully. Sparrow was in too much of the film. (Of course there are other problems with it, but that's one of the main ones.)

The Minions, the Penguins, and Puss in Boots (among other characters) WERE INVENTED AND MEANT TO BE USED AS SIDE CHARACTERS and weren't supposed to be the main focus. It will always be this way.

If you enjoyed Minions, fine. As long as you recognize to a certain extent that it wasn't the best film ever and that Minions (or Penguins or Puss) work better as side characters.

Those are my ramblings on this film and spin-offs in general! Although they don't really matter, because this film will probably get a sequel anyway.