Minions and Monsters

The minions. Those small, yellow goofballs are back at it again, searching for the biggest baddest villain to serve (this is LONG before they met Gru). Unfortunately, the minions haven’t had the best of luck finding a new boss. But this story isn’t about all the minions, but about two special minions…

Meet James. He’s different from the other minions. James is really good at making things, I mean really good. Not everyone appreciates his work though, the other minions think he’s always in the way. Henry, oh henry! He can come up with the most creative stories you can imagine. Like James, though, he too is left on the sidelines and not truly appreciated by the rest of the group, except by James. And so, James and Henry begin a lifelong friendship…

During a very chaotic car chase in Los Angeles, their chase leads them straight into the middle of a movie set. The director is furious and, since they used up all the film in that take, he orders the minions to get lost. The director, Max, takes the rough cut to a preview room and invites the producers, Frank and Ellewood, to get a sense of the film.

At first the producers are hesitant to like the movie, until they see the minions on screen. They tell the director that they want the minions in every scene of that movie. “More minions!” they cry. The director finds the minions and apologizes for his behavior, and soon enough the minions became famous movie stars….well…that is until movies start being made with recorded sound. The minions, though, don’t speak english, only Minionese (seriously, that’s what its called).

Furious at the multiple Minion films that tanked at the box office, the producers fire the minions. Jake and Henry though are not finished with Hollywood Land. They pitch their idea for a monster movie to the director, Max. Max tells them they need to find the biggest, scariest monster they can find.

Challenge accepted.

At a former school I taught at, my music classroom was themed to the minions. I called myself Gru and my elementary students, minions. I gave out minion stickers, minion award, I had minion wall decals and, yea, even a mock painting of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, except the minions are in the picture as well.

Over the years students and parents have asked, “Why the minions?” I’ve explained that the minions are good role models (mostly) as they look out for each other, complete tasks without complaint, care about doing their best for Gru; in short, these yellow pill shaped creatures bring important messages regarding loyalty, friendship, and putting others before yourself, and this can be seen in every Despicable Me and Minion film. But that’s not to say that the minions are COMPLETELY wholesome.

We all know that if there’s a minion movie that means comedic, slap stick like behavior is bound to occur, and while a lot of their behavior, in the past, was something you could brush over, as time progressed, and in Illumination’s attempt to keep things fresh for both the children and the adults, the slapstick routine becomes more and more concerning and, in several moments in “Minions and Monsters” downright appalling (which I’ll get to later)

Companies that “try to keep things fresh” don’t always lend to a sequel being more questionable than its predecessor though. For example, “Inside Out 2,” in my opinion, was a little cleaner than the original Inside Out (you’re welcome to debate me on that). While the second film might have been geared more for the adults than the children, it still had enough to keep the children engaged and still offered some really wholesome, profound messages about the challenges of growing up and becoming a teen.

Questionable content aside though, “Minions and Monsters” does something the first Minions film didn’t have as much of, and that “…Rise of Gru” only had a little of, and that is “heart.” By forcing the audience to focus on James and Henry, we are allowed to look at the individual rather than the whole. Instead of looking at 100 minions and how they work together, collectively, we get to watch two minions who feel out of place in an endless sea of minions, and sometimes this kind of premise (where characters are rejected by the collective whole) brings the best messages that, frankly, even adults can relate to (I know myself, I could write a book on not fitting in). I remember having a smile on my face that when James is first rejected and yelled at by the other minions, Henry is the first and only minion to lend him a hand of friendship that tells him, “You’re not alone. I’ll carry you if you carry me.” Indeed, it reminds me of my relationship with the Lord when he tells me, like he always does, “I’ve got you, you’re not alone.”

Content of Concern

Violence: Moderately Heavy (for a children’s film). While most of the violence starts off very-slapstick and downright silly, some of it becomes a little hard to swallow as the film continues. So here we go.

A giant cyclops stomps and crushes a few buildings during the open sequence. The cyclops later steps on a rock and, while trying to get the rock unstuck, he runs into something and his hair catches fire. Later, the same cyclops ends up tripping himself and falling down a mountain, landing on spikes (he is shown to be okay later, covered in tons of bandages and casts). A pirate is thrown into the water and a shark attacks him (nothing graphic).

In one appalling moment, King Louis’ head is cut off by a guillotine (while we don’t see the blade actually chop off the head, we see the severed head briefly after). A massive panda crushes one of the minions’ bosses. Minions are seen attacking each other. The minions are seen driving a train through the streets of Los Angeles. Minions are shown chasing after viking actors while filming a movie. Thinking the viking actors are real vikings, the minions begin attacking the actors with various items and weapons.

A robotic man, named Dort (voiced by the hilarious Jesse Eisenberg), beats up some thugs in self-defense. A man is hit with a bat and knocked out. A giant shark attacks a minions boat (their alien friend, GOOMI, saves them with his roar). His acronymn name stands for Gary Orcam Oliver Magma Ichabod, the Deceiver. A fair attendant is hit with giant plush balls. Henry and James are attacked by a giant jello-like creature with a thousand eyes named Irene. Irene devours/absorbs stuff and other monsters are seen crashing and destroying stuff.

A couple minions are seen using tanks to shoot rockets at Irene. Two minions are absorbed by Irene but make it out okay. During the scene, however, one minion is seen nearly drowning inside Irene but is, of course, saved. Dynamite explodes near a couple minions. Irene is frozen and then explodes. Robbers are seen shooting guns at sheriffs during a chase. Monsters talk about only wanting to chase and eat people.

LANGUAGE: B*stard, and someone states, “Mom warned me about men like you” (an insult), and the word “poop” is used as well as bullszack

SEXUAL CONTENT/DIALOG: A woman purrs at a model of Keanu Reeves. Unfortunately, as is becoming practice in Hollywood, there is some LGBTQ messaging as one of the male monsters that James summons wears a coconut bra and grass skirt (in one scene later someone pulls this monster’s skirt down). Dort and his crush, Debbie, almost kiss in one scene. There is a close up on a monster’s clothed rear-end. Unfortunately, just like the first minions film, a minion is shown wearing a thong. It is sparkly and it gets ripped off. A cue card during a scene specifies kissing someone.

NUDITY: Two characters have their clothes ripped off (a human and a minion). In both instances nothing graphic is shown. A man is seen in his underwear in a bathroom. There are a couple scenes, at the beginning of the film, where, on an interactive map, yellow naked minions are seen moving on the map. Viking actors are seen shirtless. A mummy’s wrappings come undone. Women’s swimwear reveals cleavage, and bare skin (abdomens, hips to feet.

ALCOHOL: Someone mentions sending champagne as a gift. Minions drink martinis in a couple scenes. Someone is seen pouring champagne in glasses as the production crew finishes work on a film.

OCCULT: One of the minions bosses is a wizard. There are a few scenes where Henry summons monsters from a monster book through means of conjuring spells (he also sends monsters back this way as well).

OTHER: A director, Max, is squeezed between the very tall, and extremely large producers on a couch. Minions are seen spitting on men’s shoes for a shoe shine. Some of the minion’s movies they make have very questionable titles to them (I couldn’t catch all of them but there were 5 or 6). A monster asks GOOMI if he can eat a minion.

END CREDITS CONTENT: During the end credits there are brief montages that include characters from the Despicable Me franchise, including Dr. Nefario being turned into a girl and Gru losing his clothes and covering his privates.

Message

The film’s main message that shines through is that you don’t need everyone’s approval, everyone to like you; you just need one person in your life.

Indeed, there are times in our walk where we may feel very lonely. To be a Christian sometimes means that we may not have the approval or acceptance of other people. God is different though, When human friendships and relationships fail, God’s friendship and relationship with us NEVER fails. He promises to neither abandon or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8). Likewise cripture tells us….

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” —Joshua 1:9

”And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” —Matthew 28:20

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” —1 John 3:1

Closing Thoughts

“Minions and Monsters” continues to bring the joy, the fun and the laughter that has cemented the Despicable Me and Minions franchise for over a decade and a half. The strength of this particular installment, as it relates to the Minions franchise, is that it will seriously pull on your heart strings, but for all the right reasons. Your eyes and ears, though, might be in for a different kind of surprise.

While there are some positive messages embedded in “…Monsters,” and messages that Christian families can definitely discuss, there is still some LGBTQ propaganda to contend with and the violence is a little bit heavier and more frequent than before in addition to some not so wonderful language.

I’m hesitant to recommend “Minions and Monsters.” There are positive themes to be sure, but you still have to contend with quite a bit of eye-brow raising content. I’d advise parents watching the film first before taking the children. Ultimately the choice is yours.

• Violence: Moderate
• Sex: Moderate
• Occult: Moderate
• Drugs/Alcohol: Moderate
• Nudity: Moderate
• Vulgar/Crude language: Mild
• Wokeism: Moderate
• Profane language: Mild— • Holy wow • Oh my Heavens • Glory hallelujah • G*d

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.