The Minions hitchhike to Orlando

Minions – The Minions have been on the Earth since life began and from the start have followed whoever is the biggest and baddest villain around. However, after falling foul of one of their masters’ armies, they are forced to live alone for centuries. Despite initially thriving, the loneliness creeps back in so Kevin, Bob and Stuart head out in search of a villain for their tribe. Supervillain, Scarlet Overkill, seems to fulfil their needs but after a misunderstanding, Scarlet is soon trying to kill the three hapless heroes; but will her evil and ingenious gadgets be a match for their innocence and copious amounts of good luck?

Minions (2015) – Director: Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin

Is Minions appropriate for kids

Rating: U

Running Length: 91 mins

Starring: Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Geoffrey Rush

Genre: Animated, Comedy

REVIEW: ‘MINIONS’

Following their initial and hugely popular introductions in both Despicable Me movies, it was inevitable that the potential for a successful standalone Minions movie would come to be realised. Even though it’s clearly a movie aimed at kids, there are plenty of laughs to be had for accompanying adults. Unlike many animated films, it never forgets to appeal to every member of its audience without stooping to inappropriate double entendres.

The joy of the Minions as characters is their simplicity and child-like innocence; this on its own however is not enough to carry a whole film so it is a testament to the writers and direction that a group of small, incoherent creatures can be so loveable and interesting from start to finish.

While the majority of viewers are bound to be kids, any adults who find themselves watching the exploits of Kevin, Stuart, Bob and the rest of the Minions gang definitely won’t be disappointed!

CONTENT: IS ‘MINIONS’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The movie begins with the Minions evolving from single cell life forms which follow any predator that they come across. One of these predators is a Tyrannosaurus Rex which, after a clumsy mistake from one of the Minions, ends up running on top of a large boulder. The boulder finally comes to a stop above a huge pit of molten lava; the dinosaur looks terrified and tries to save itself but one of the Minions accidentally knocks the boulder and the dinosaur falls into the pit. Nothing graphic is seen but the small amount of distress seen could be upsetting for some young kids.

There is a commercial for a supervillain who, in a very stylised way, is shown to kill many people; it is mostly silhouettes which stop suddenly and fall to the floor. At the end of the commercial, they walk up a mountain made up of bodies in silhouette. Obviously there is no blood or gore but the high body count in the section could cause some concern for parents.

In order to travel somewhere, Kevin, Stuart and Bob hitchhike; this scene lasts a few minutes and rather glamorises it. They eventually get picked up with a very strange family whose motives aren’t entirely noble. Although the Minions are not actually in danger during this scene, they do get a little scared for a short amount of time; a lot of parents may feel that this may encourage children to hitchhike which can be extremely dangerous.

One incidental character is killed by being hit on the head; they crumple to the floor and slump into a very unnatural position. This sudden, somewhat violent death followed by an unpleasant visual could be disturbing for some kids.

Several yetis come across the Minions’ tribe and, as the Minions see them as potential new masters, they work hard to make them happy. During a particularly entertaining performance, the main yeti, which is having a great time and has so far seemed to be friendly, is killed suddenly when a huge rock lands on top of its head. This unexpected death of a ‘nice’ character could be quite upsetting for some kids.

While making fun of a character, Bob turns his back to them, folds his arms across his body, strokes himself up and down and pretends to kiss and cuddle an imaginary girlfriend. After a few seconds, Bob reaches down and squeezes his own bottom.

The Minions visit Buckingham Palace and ride on the backs of the Queens Corgis. When they run off-screen, several royal servants who are joining in the game also ride the dogs which don’t appear to be suffering, however another servant is too heavy and, while sitting on its back, drags the corgi along the floor.

The three Minions are tricked into entering a medieval torture chamber, complete with sharp blades and brutal looking equipment. The torturer tries to harm them but it is soon made clear that they are not going to be hurt and are actually enjoying their time there. Despite this, the tension that is built up before the Minions’ safety is secured could be a bit upsetting.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?
VERDICT: IS ‘MINIONS’ FOR KIDS?

This endlessly entertaining ‘kids’ film is not one that is going to disappoint many people and its sweet, innocent protagonists are a refreshing change from the highly intelligent, witty and sometimes too self-assured characters of other similar movies. While it’s generally suitable for all ages, we do recommend caution for children who may empathise with the ‘nice’ characters who quickly come to a sticky end as this happens several times. Most of the violence is comedic and slapstick so should not be too distressing

  • Violence: 2/5 (one character is crushed by a huge chandelier. One of the Minions enters a phone booth and when he turns around he realises that a man with scary face paint and a chainsaw is trying to kill him)
  • Emotional Distress: 2/5 (One good character appears to be dead. Everyone is upset but one character in particular is distraught)
  • Fear Factor: 1/5
  • Sexual Content: 2/5 (Three incidental characters dance and have a few sexy moves, including hip/groin thrusts and smacking each others’ bottoms. One of the Minions walks into a Jacuzzi wearing a thong and a short time later he is seen inside cuddling two yellow fire hydrants that look like Minions which he clearly finds attractive. Some hippies chant ‘Make love, not war’) 
  • Bad Language: 0/5
  • Dialogue: 1/5
  • Other notes: Deals with themes of following a leader, helping you friends, doing whatever it takes to protect the people you care about, having the courage to leave your comfort zone and the consequences of being evil.

Words by Laura Record

15 replies
  1. Renee
    Renee says:

    Overkill is using the word hate#this movie is not kid friendly with the killings & some langauge #we those thos would be happy fun feel im nervous about was gonna happen next

    Reply
  2. Julie H
    Julie H says:

    The above review completely missed the mark!! This movie is not appropriate for children!! Universal could have taken this script anywhere but they went with glamorizing guns, robbing banks, hurting police officers, violence, theft and being “evil”!?!?? The Chipmunks are on their 4th hilarious sequel without killings… Save your money and skip Minions!! So disappointed!!! :-(

    Reply
  3. KWRUK
    KWRUK says:

    I wish I had not brought my kids to see this movie. With the family robbing a bank in masks, shooting at the police, the minions crashing a funeral and stealing the flowers, many, many characters dying….I knew we were in trouble. It was the very end when you think one of the minions has died that my 5 year old began sobbing and could not be soothed, even when you realize everyone is fine. It was all way too violent and lacked all the goofiness of the first 2 movies. I also don’t want my kids saying things like “I hate you” and “you screwed up”. The whole thing was also fairly boring and not terribly funny for any of us. We love, love, love the 1st 2 Despicable movies. This one doesn’t even come close. We will not be watching again, for sure.

    Reply
  4. elliot
    elliot says:

    I’m middle-aged and I was surprised at the level of violence and crime in a movie basically aimed at 5-9 year old kids. I realize that the old Warners Bros cartoons had violence, like Porky Pig and his shotgun, but that was mild compared to this.

    Reply
  5. Joanne Rooks
    Joanne Rooks says:

    I am really upset that I took my 5 and 3 year old to see this movie. I see now that it probably wasn’t suitable for their age bracket but I still find the overall message of the movie disturbing for older children. The whole premise of the film is wrong – it makes being evil ‘good’. Minions seem like lovable little characters and kids adore them – so its a confusing message that they are supporting evilness. I found parts really uncomfortable to watch such as the torture chamber bit and the about of references to the word ‘kill’. The part that disturbed me the most was when they were playing with the noose. I cannot see how they allowed this to be in there as I have heard of children accidentally hanging themselves. How can they think it is acceptable to turn it into a joke when children often wouldn’t understand how dangerous putting something around your neck could be? Don’t even get me started on the depiction of the queen and the fact that she knighted a minion after he stole the crown. …. and then there was the old blind man. The whole thing was horrible. It seemed to be that they had a few teasers such as minions singing or minions in the dark ages and then had to string out a story and failed very badly.

    Reply
  6. Julie
    Julie says:

    More comments on the violence in the Minion movie:

    “I’m middle-aged and I was surprised at the level of violence and crime in a movie basically aimed at 5-9 year old kids. I realize that the old Warners Bros cartoons had violence, like Porky Pig and his shotgun, but that was mild compared to this…”

    Reply
  7. Kath
    Kath says:

    Haven’t seen this movie but my four grandchildren between ages of 5 and 10 who a couple if years ago got scared and upset at Toy Story 3, loved it. My two daughters (mother’s of the said children) are always very conscientious about this kind of thing and in their opinion the film’s content was always in a fun context. They want to see it again and I can’t wait to go with them!

    Reply
  8. MinionsNO
    MinionsNO says:

    I don’t have children and I saw this movie last night and was horrified that this was marketed for children. This movie has Minions wanting bad / evil / villains and chasing them around . The first thing I thought was, why is this movie glorifying evil as something a child should want? The violence was waaay to much. The crime and killing was waaaay to much. There is also a flavor of men are dumb and disposable and women are to be glorified. Evil women that is…. And the Minions speak in Spanish and I couldn’t understand them. With so much awfulness in the world this movie only glorifies everything bad. And the McDonald Minions swear… Go Figure! That should put a big NO on Minions the movie right there.

    Reply
  9. Julie J
    Julie J says:

    He found the fire hydrants attractive because while the main part was yellow, it was painted to look like it had peach flesh colored breasts with brown areola. :(

    Reply
  10. Chris
    Chris says:

    I was extremely disappointed and shocked when I saw this movie with my 6 year old and three other families. It clearly pushes buttons. As a family we loved Despicable Me 1/2 and couldn’t wait to see this one. However, half an hour in and I noticed two dads were snoozing near me, three adults were half asleep, the children were still mesmerized but the whole glorifying evil and violence truly disturbed me. Why? Why did they go and ruin our beloved Minions? These yellow little fellas have been known to be sweet and charming and here this movie is telling us it’s not cute and charming unless you do bad, suck up to the big shots and basically blindly follow the doings of evil. I regretted taking my daughter there and secretly hoped she’d forget it as soon as I take her to see Inside Out. I would be so upset if she and her friends thought it’d be fun to try and worship bad guys, hit or torture each other (since it looked fun enough in the torture chamber!), or just most of the nonsense in the movie. Thumbs down…

    Reply
  11. Don
    Don says:

    I am usually pretty open minded but when a Complete Family is shown robbing a bank with normalized weapons & guns, for fun, I began to feel guilty for bringing my children to see this.

    Reply
  12. Bonnie
    Bonnie says:

    I took my granddaughters to see the minions movie- at their request – ages 4 and 11. The film extols the “virtues” of being a bad and mean person. It is Hitler-like in presentation and blatantly opportunistic. I am appalled that talented voice-over stars have lent their names to this garbage!!! This obnoxious movie is distressing. Having nuclear weapons hidden under Scarlet’s dress desensitizes all of us to violence and warfare. It is NOT funny and it is NOT suitable for children. Period. Double thumbs down.

    Reply
  13. John Duffy
    John Duffy says:

    Wow are you kidding? Within the first 10 minutes at least 12 people get killed! More people get killed in this movie than a Quentin Tarantino movie.

    Reply

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