Minions

Some good sunday afternoon entertainment, as Noshi and me sat down for this 2015 animated comedy.

And it features those adorable yellow little buggers, the Minions!

Minions are small, yellow creatures who have existed since the beginning of time, evolving from yellow single-celled organisms into beings which exist only to serve history's most evil masters.  After rolling a Tyrannosaurus into a volcano, getting their caveman leader eaten by a cave bear, crushing a Pharaoh under a pyramid after constructing it upside-down, exposing Count Dracula to sunlight, and accidentally firing a cannon into Napoleon while in Russia, the Minions are driven into isolation and start a new life in a massive cave. After many years, the Minions become depressed, restless, and unmotivated without a master to serve. To regain their dignity and sense of purpose, Kevin, one fearless Minion, decides to set out to find a new master and asks for help. Stuart, a musically inclined, one-eyed Minion, and Bob, a young and inexperienced but enthusiastic Minion, are recruited. 

 

The trio journey to New York City, when the year is 1968. After spending the day attempting to blend in, the Minions end up in a department store for the night, where they accidentally discover a hidden commercial broadcast for villains advertising Villain-Con; a convention for villains and supervillains in Orlando. The trio hitchhikes a ride with the Nelson family and impress them with their accidental villainy after being chased by police. At the convention, they see Scarlet Overkill, a female supervillain who unexpectedly hires them and takes them to her home in England. They phone the rest of the Minions to get them to join.

Scarlet explains the plan to steal the Imperial State Crown from the Queen of England and promises to reward the Minions if they steal it but kill them if they do not. Her husband, Herb, supplies them with inventions to aid in the heist, but they are nearly caught when they break into the Tower of London, which leads to a chase that ends with Bob accidentally crashing into the Sword in the Stone and pulling it free, removing the Queen from the throne and becoming King Bob. Enraged that somebody else accomplishes her dream of stealing the throne, Scarlet confronts the Minions, so Bob abdicates the throne in her favor. Undeterred because she feels betrayed, Scarlet imprisons the three in a dungeon to be tortured by Herb before her coronation, but they escape with the intention to apologize to Scarlet. 

 

After making their way to Westminster Abbey, Stuart and Bob interrupt the coronation by inadvertently dropping a chandelier on Scarlet, who orders their execution having survived. Dozens of villains chase the three of them during a thunderstorm; Stuart and Bob are caught, while Kevin finds his way into a pub, where Queen Elizabeth currently hangs out. He sees Scarlet on a television, promising that she will kill Stuart and Bob if Kevin does not show up by dawn. With the villains still searching for him, Kevin sneaks into Scarlet's castle to steal weapons. But right before the villains catch him, Kevin accidentally triggers a machine Herb was building and grows into a gigantic minion, destroying the castle. He tramples through London, rescuing his friends and battling Scarlet just as the other Minions turn up in London. Scarlet tries to eradicate them, firing a massive missile, but Kevin swallows it. Scarlet and Herb attempt to escape with her rocket-dress, but Kevin holds onto it, managing to get a ride. The missile Kevin swallowed detonates, causing it to explode. The other Minions stare at the explosion in sadness but Kevin turns out to have survived and shrunk back to his normal size.

Queen Elizabeth II gets her throne and crown back and rewards Bob with a tiny crown for his teddy bear, Stuart with an electric guitar and Kevin with a knighthood. Scarlet and Herb, who turn out to have also survived the explosion, steal the crown once more only to be frozen in place by a young Gru, who flees with the crown on a rocket-powered motorbike. The Minions stare in awe and run after him, having decided he is the boss they had been looking for. 

Yeah, this was some good fun, and even though we are perhaps swamped the past years with Minion merchandise, this movie was still a good laugh!

2.11.0.0