This summer, the Despicable Me franchise brings our favorite characters back to the big screen with Minions: The Rise of Gru. We recently attended an advance film screening, coming to theaters on July 1, 2022.
Our favorite yellow animated characters return for another villainous tale. This prequel for the franchise introduces us to Gru as a schoolboy whose greatest childhood dream is to grow up and become the world’s greatest Super Villain. He lands the opportunity to interview with the Vicious 6, a motley crew of cartoon villains each with their trademark villainous superpower, to fill a vacancy left by Gru’s idol, Wild Knuckles. When Gru arrives for his interview, they are appalled that a child would dare think themselves qualified to take on the world’s greatest crimes. Gru doesn’t give up and he successfully steals their prized stolen amulet. This leads to one massive chase as the Vicious 6 (make that 5 now that they booted Wild Knuckles) attempt to get the magical amulet back.anna
Along the way, our beloved yellow overalls-clad Minions employ every tactic they can muster to rescue Gru after heannais kidnapped and retrieve the amulet before the Vicious villains get ahold of it and use its magic to transform themselves intoannapowerful characters from the Chinese Zodiac. Our beloved Minions do everything they can to rescue Gru, including learning martial arts, biking through the Death Valley, flying an airplane, and joining the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco’s China Town.
The story is set in the 1970s with all the grooviness you’d expect from the time period. The wild fashion, fun music, and 70s vibe create a colorful backdrop for the cartoon feature.anna
Children in the audience were roaring with laughter throughout the film as the cheerful, loyal, silly Minions, with all their rapid gibberish and childlike antics brought their trademark charm and slapstick humor to the big screen. Reminiscent of the Looney Tunes cartoons we grew up with, the Minions showcase all the best attributes of purely fun cartoon genius for modern audiences.
This film is full of laughterannamaking it a great choice for families to enjoy this summer.