I regularly babysit two young boys who are 4 years old and 2 years old respectively. They’re really cool dudes, so it’s never a bother when their mom reaches out to me. We read books, play games and, most importantly, we watch movies. These boys have really broadened my view on children’s films and I’ve gotten the chance to watch movies I completely forgot about.
In the last few weeks alone we watched all three "Shrek" movies, "The Lion King" and "Despicable Me," just to name a few. "Despicable Me," especially, is a really great movie. It has an awesome cast, interesting plot and it’s honestly really funny. My best friend has entire scenes memorized, which isn’t even embarrassing; it’s truly inspiring.
One of the most notable features of the film are the minions. They’re goofy yellow folks in overalls. They help the main character, Gru, with all of his evil, villainous endeavors, and provide the majority of the comic relief. Last summer, the minions got their own movie, aptly titled, "Minions." I vowed to never waste my money or time on such a ridiculous concept. A movie completely about the minions? Why would anybody want that? So you can imagine my horror and frustration when the kids I babysit demanded that we watch it.
I tried to sway them to find something else, but I accidentally let it slip that I had never seen "Minions," and the 4-year-old would not hear another word. So I started up the movie and prepared myself for a very rough hour and seven minutes of little yellow goofballs.
The movie began with the evolution of minions and their quest for an evil leader. They tried T-rexes, Napoleon Bonaparte -- all the most villainous figures of the times. It was about 15 minutes into the movie when I realized that there was no dialogue. At least, no dialogue that made any frickin’ sense. It was entirely in gibberish, save for the narrator. The minions cannot speak English except for very few words and phrases which they hardly use with one another, so the vast majority of the film was in gibberish.
I don’t know how the creators got away with making a movie entirely in Minionese (I assume their language is called Minionese, but feel free to correct me if you know otherwise or have a better suggestion!). The minions (spoiler alert) attempt to steal the crown jewels of England to win over their new leader (some villain lady voiced by Sandra Bullock) and run into a lot of silly obstacles which they must overcome. I don’t remember much, probably because I’ve tried to block it out, but I do remember one scene where one of the minions gets very, very large. Like, taller-than-Big-Ben large. Really, a great scene.
The movie really confused me and caused me a lot of emotional turmoil while I watched (there's a scene where you see a minion butt in a red G-string; very scandalous), but the kids went right to bed when it was done with no arguments, so I guess it wasn’t so bad after all! 11/10!
