Minions

Michael Keaton

Allison Janney

Steve Coogan

Jennifer Saunders

Geoffrey Rush

Minions is a 2015 American 3D computer-animated comedy film, serving as a spin-off prequel to the Despicable Me franchise. Produced by Illumination Entertainment for Universal Pictures, it was directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, written by Brian Lynch, and produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy. The film stars the voices of Coffin (as the Minions, including: Kevin, Stuart, and Bob), Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, and Jennifer Saunders, with the narration provided by Geoffrey Rush. It was first foreshadowed in the end credits of Despicable Me 2 (2013), where Kevin, Stuart, and Bob, three of the Minions and the film's main characters, are seen auditioning for the film.

Minions had its premiere on June 11, 2015, in Leicester Square, London, and went into general release in the United States on July 10, 2015. Critical response was mixed: some critics praised the comedic aspects of the film and the vocal performances of Bullock and Hamm, while also saying they felt that the title characters were not able to carry the film on their own, and that the villains were flatly characterized. The film has grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide (outgrossing each of the Despicable Me films), making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2015, the eighteenth-highest-grossing film of all time, the third-highest-grossing animated film (behind Incredibles 2. and Frozen) and the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film. A sequel is scheduled to be released on July 3, 2020.

## Plot

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 despicable masters.[20] After rolling a Tyrannosaurus into a volcano, getting their caveman leader eaten by a cave bear, crushing a Pharaoh under the pyramids for incorrect construction, burning Count Dracula, and accidentally firing a cannon at Napoleon, 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, 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 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. At the convention, they see Scarlet Overkill, the first 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. Dozens of villains chase the three of them during a thunderstorm; Stuart and Bob are caught, while Kevin finds his way into a pub. 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 until he is thirty stories tall, 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, but Kevin swallows a massive missile she fires at them. Scarlet and Herb attempt to escape with her rocket-dress, but Kevin holds onto it. The missile 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.

## Voice cast

* Pierre Coffin as Kevin, Stuart, Bob and The Minions
* Sandra Bullock as Scarlet Overkill
* Jon Hamm as Herb Overkill

* Michael Keaton as Walter Nelson
* Allison Janney as Madge Nelson
* Steve Coogan as Professor Flux and The Tower Guard
* Jennifer Saunders as Queen Elizabeth II
* Geoffrey Rush as The Narrator
* Steve Carell as Young Gru
* Katy Mixon as Tina Nelson
* Michael Beattie as a VNC Announcer and Walter Nelson Jr.
* Hiroyuki Sanada as Dumo, the Sumo Villain
* Dave Rosenbaum as Fabrice
* Alex Dowding as The Royal Advisor
* Paul Thornley as a News Reporter
* Andy Nyman as Frankie Fishlips, a Gill-man-like creature super-villain