Minions

Minions

Summary

The Minions find them self with out a villain to serve and look up to, so the minions fall in to a deep depression, but one minion named Kevin has a plan, along side the teenage minion Stuart and the lovable Bob embark off in to the open world to find a new evil boss to follow. 

Thoughts & Experiences

In the beginning credits and intro of the movie we see the cute, yellow beings called Minions as a singular living cell and they evolve in to the cute, silly and dumb beings as we see in the above picture. It just doesn't show us them evolving but how they seek out for the most dominant, evil leader to follow and to look up to. In the process of seeing the minions fail each time they find a suitable leader, they then look for the next one and the same thing happens over and over again. 

As time goes by the Minions fall in to a deep depression because they can't find anyone evil enough to fit in with and so one brave Minion named Kevin comes up with a plan to go out in to the world and he wouldn't come back with out the biggest and baddest villain for the Minions to serve. Whilst Kevin announced his plan to the tribe, he needed help, one of the Minions named Bob was very eager to go with Kevin, but Kevin thought that Bob wasn't strong enough for the dangerous journey ahead. 

One of the other Minions volunteered with out knowing as he put his hand up whilst he was asleep by another Minion, which he didn't know what he was getting himself into. Kevin now had a companion called Stuart and had to pick one more for the road, so he picked Kevin since he was the only one enthusiastic enough to go alongside them. Kevin felt pride, Stuart felt...Hungry mostly and Bob was frightened of the journey ahead, and they were off to find their new boss!

I loved the beginning opener credits of Minions as it explained briefly how they came along and what their purpose in life was, to find the most meanest, baddest leader there is. It then went through different time periods of the Minions lives and shown us the many great leaders and how they came to fail them as the Minions would accidentally kill them with their stupidity. It was a funny opener for all ages to enjoy and explained the rest of the story with in the first 10 minutes.

Meet The Nelsons

When the Minions decide to leave the city of New York and travel to Orlando for the Villain-Con, where they will find hundreds and hundreds of villains in one place at a time, the Minions decide it will be a good idea to hitch hike to Orlando. After many failed attempts at hitching a ride to the convention, one particular family stop to offer the Minions a ride and they are the Nelsons. 

Credit to gmovies,ph

The Minions join the family on the car ride and the 3 yellow naive creatures don't know what they are getting themselves in to, when the Nelson family stop the car and the father, Walter Nelson says "Who wants to stretch their legs?" and when the family are about to leave the car, the whole family put on ski masks and loaded up their guns "OK Nelsons, lets do this!" The Nelson family rob a bank while the Minions are waiting in the car and come back, to drive off like nothing happened, except there is a bunch of police cars after them.

The Nelson's have gotten themselves in to a police car chase, while Walter Nelson is shooting paintball bullets at the police car window screens to blind their vision. Kevin & Stuart who are in the back of the car fighting over a rocket launcher, accidentally shooting the rocket out of the back window, which destroys a telephone post and brings down a water tower that stops the police cars in their tracks, as they all crash in to the destroyed water tower.  

Madge Nelson has her suspicions about the minions and asks why they're going to Orlando and they all find out they're going to the same place, Villain-Con.

I thought the Nelson's was a funny asset to this scene as it was very random and entertaining to watch. The whole family was evil, including the their baby as we see the baby rob the bank with the rest of the family and threaten Bob with a hand grenade as a joke.  The way Kevin & Stuart blew up the telephone pole and brought down the water tower with the rocket launcher was the funniest because Walter asks "who did that?" as if he was angry and the two minions both denied doing it, but then says "That was awesome!" and both minions try and get the praise from him. 

Meeting Scarlett Overkill 

The Nelsons and the three Minions arrive at Villain-Con and part ways as soon as they get inside, so the Minions start to wonder around as they look for a villain to follow. Stuart and Bob are looking around and they are not pleased with some of the wanna-be villains but Kevin stumbles upon the key note speaker convention, staring the star of the show Scarlett Overkill. Scarlett Overkill is the worlds first female villain and is the most famous, ruthless and successful villain there is. 

Scarlett Overkill makes a dramatic entrance as she flies on to the stage with her red, rocket powered dress and explains to the audience that she is looking for "new Henchmen" and the 3 minions and the crowed go crazy with excitement. Scarlett then explains who ever can take the trinket out of her hand will be her new henchmen and the audience over crowed the stage as they all try and get the trinket out of her hand, but Scarlett is a excellent fighter and fights off her audience one by one.

The 3 Minions get caught in the fighting and the other villains pile on top of Scarlett with the 3 Minions underneath them all, but Scarlett uses her dress to blast them all off her and she realises she is holding a stuffed bear, Bob's bear in fact. Scarlett can see one of the Minions cough up the diamond and is amazed and also announces to the crowed "Meet my new henchmen, Minions!"

Can you imagine if Villain-Con was real! Maybe it is real but its secret, like the one in the Minions Movie...On a serious note the Villain-Con scene was excellent as we see different types of villains that are entertaining to watch as we see some of them fail with their time machine inventions and we also see Bob try out to be a villain at one of the convention stands, trying to scare the lady with his stuffed bear.

The Mission

The 3 Minions land in England where Scarlett Overkill lives, and gives the Minions a house tour around her Villain mansion. She then explains what the Minions have to do for her as she stops near a painting of Queen Elizabeth and tells the Minions she wants the Queens crown, so she can rule England and if the Minions succeed they will get "Respect, Power and...Banana!"

The Minions are now in Scarlett's husbands weapon laboratory where 'Herb' hands Bob his stretch suit which able's Bob to stretch his limbs at great length, Kevin gets a Lava Lamp that shoots real lava and Stuart gets a Hypno Hat that he can Hypnotise anyone and control them in anyway he wants. Kevin, Stuart & Bob are now well equip and begin their first mission at the Tower Of London, where the Queens Crown is held.

After fleeing the Tower Of London with the Queen and followed by her men, the Minions get chased through the city of London on the Queen's horse and carriage. After the Minion crash the carriage in to a tree, the police are soon behind them and begin to chase the Minions on foot. Kevin and Stuart get caught by the police, while Bob runs on top of a large stone and pulls out a sword from with inside the stone, making the policemen shocked and bow down on their knees, as Bob has become the king of England by pulling out the sword, from the legendary tale of Sword In The Stone.

Being a British person myself i found this hilarious as they joked about our tradition and the royalty ways of life, as we see Bob pull out the sword that made him the new King Of England. Only if being made King was that easy, i would travel down to the "Sword In The Stone" right now and pull it out myself, if it was real that is.

Scarlett Overkill just seen Bob get crowned the new king of England on the news and she wasn't happy at all, so she pays them a visit at Buckingham Palace. Scarlett is angry towards the 3 lovable Minions and tells them that it was supposed to be her dream to become Queen, so Bob comes up with an idea to change the law and to make Scarlett the new Queen Of England. Oh No!

Scarlett, The Evil Queen

Now that Scarlett is about to become the future Queen Of England, she has to get rid of the Minions that she thought betrayed her, so she leads them down to the dungeon that is underneath Buckingham Palace and waiting is a torture room. The Minions don't know its a torture room and begin to have fun on the torture machinery and tools and Herb joins in. 

Scarlett and Herb leave the Minions down in the dungeon while they are off to get crowned Queen and king of England. The 3 Minions find a tunnel that leads down in to the sewage system and the 3 of them walk through the dark tunnels until they find a way out that is close enough to Westminster Abbey, where the coronation of the crowning is taking place. 

When the Minions arrive at Westminster Abbey the front doors are locked and guarded, so they decide to climb the building to find a way in from the roof. As soon as the Minions find a way in the 3 of them automatically get in a sticky situation as the Bob & Stuart are being chased around by a bee on top of a chandelier, which is unscrewing itself while the coronation is being present below. The Chandelier then falls from the ceiling and lands on Scarlett, but when everyone thought she was crushed to death, her dress saved her and she blasts her way from the wreckage.  

Kevin, Stuart & Bob are now being chased through the streets of London by the villains that attended the coronation of Scarlett's crowning. The 3 of them get split up as they get chased and Bob and Stuart get caught by Scarlett as Kevin can see her broadcast it on the news. Its all up to Kevin to come up with a master plan to rescue his two friends and he does! He plans to sneak in to Herbs lab and get loads of weapons but when the villains know hes inside the lab they all try to break inside to get to Kevin. The villains are now inside the lab and Kevin panics and jumps in the nearest machine and he accidentally turns it on, turning him in to a giant Minion.

So Kevin is now a giant... How cool is that?! Nothing can stop him now surely, but saying that he is naive and stupid at times so anything could go wrong.  I was trying to think how could it be possible for one minion to save his friends from two genius villains, it was impossible but now hes a giant i think he has a good chance now.

Minion Vs Villain

Kevin the big lovable giant scares away the villains that just tried chasing him down and off his goes through the city of London, but he gets stuck between some of the buildings because he is a giant of course and things get a littl to tight for Kevin. He eventually squeezes his way through the tall buildings and saves Bob and Stuart from the explosive dynamite that they were just tied to by picking them both up with his giant hands. 

Scarlett can see Kevin rescue his friends and this makes her furious with rage and turns her dress in to a huge rocket, she then fly's up in the sky and says to Kevin "That's your plan? Make yourself a bigger target?"  While her dress unravels two lava rockets on each side that aims towards Kevin and his friends.  While the giant Minion fights it out with Scarlett and her rocket powered dress, thousands of  Minions spot Kevin and its the rest of the tribe.

Scarlett can see the giant Minion and the rest of the tribe and turns her dress in to a huge nuclear rocket and shoots it towards the Minions. Kevin catches the rocket with force and fights against it, but then decides to swallow it so it protect the rest of the tribe. Scarlett and Herb begin to fly off as they think they have won but Kevin's giant hand grabs hold of the flying couple and tags along the ride and flies up in to the sky with Scarlett and Herb, to explode over the city of London.

The Minion tribe begin to whelp and cry as they think Kevin has just exploded, but Kevin surprisingly floats down on his giant dungarees that have turned in to a parachute and Kevin is alive and normal sized again.

Well that a funny and random battle from a giant Minion and a supersized dressed Villain. The Minion tribe should of helped i thought to show off more humor of the Minions but i guess the battle was funny enough for me. When Kevin survived the explosion, shouldn't Scarlett and Herb survived as well? 

A New Chapter

The Minions have been rewarded by the Queen Of England for their bravery and for saving the nation from Scarlett and her Villain ways but when they think it is all over, Scarlett and Herb come back and steal the Queens crown. When they are running away with the Queens crown in the crowed of people, they suddenly get frozen by an ice gun.

This is where the Minions found their new boss. He was Cunning! He was Evil! He was Perfect! He was... Despicable! 

If you have seen the original movies then you know who their new boss is. This gave me goosebumps and it was amazing how he sorted out the best villain in the world as it was nothing and to easy for him to do, which catches the eyes of thousands of Minions. 

Conclusion

I really did enjoy watching Minions as it was original and unique and loads of funny scenes. I would say that this movie is more for kids and not for the family as it is very childish with all the baby talking Minions and i think adults would not enjoy or understand the concept of the movie, being an adult myself i did enjoy it but i would't watch it again as i now know it wasn't the type of movie for me.

On the other hand if you're a parent and want to make your child happy, then i would recommend this movie as they would enjoy it a lot!

Discussion

1. What did you guys think of the overall movie?
2. What did you think of the story of the movie?
3. What did you think of the characters?
4. What was you favourite character? & Why?
5. What was you least favourite character? & Why?
6. What was the funniest scene? & Why?
7. Best scene? & Why?
8. Worst scene? & Why?
9. Will there be a sequel?
10. What will the sequel be about?

Inside Out

Inside Out

Summary 

Riley is a 11 year old, hockey-loving, Midwestern girl, but everything changes as soon as her and her family move to San Francisco. Her emotions led by Joy who tries to help Riley through this difficult time in her life, but the stress of it all brings the emotion of Sadness in to Riley's life. Joy & Sadness get lost in to the far end of Riley's mind, leaving Anger, Fear and Disgust to act alone while Joy and Sadness try to get back to headquarters.

Thoughts & Experiences

I would firstly like to say that i am a huge fan of Disney Pixar movies as they bring the best out of people, even if we are fully grown adults like i am. Pixar are not only here for our entertainment but can also teach us a thing or two as we grow up and yes, they are very emotional movies to watch but that's the best part about Pixar, So why not do a movie about thoughts and emotions? They finally did!

Inside Out starts from the very beginning of life. the birth of our very own existence, showing us a baby of Riley being born. When we are being shown the baby version of Riley and seeing through her eyes, we see her two parents being very happy to see her, this makes baby Riley very happy and brings Riley her first Joyful emotion, Joy.

We see Joy playing with baby Riley's emotions and collecting valuable memories from inside her mind, controlling what everythng she feels and in this giving time she feels happy & Joyful as she is the only emotion around, for about "33 seconds," then comes in Sadness, the sad emotion to Riley's mind. 

This part was one of my favourite parts of the movie because it reveals to of the two main characters of Inside Out in a funny and very different way as the two characters are shown playing with Riley's emotions and thoughts for the very first time. 

The 3rd emotion to show up is Fear, Fear is the emotion that is scared of everything and tries to keep Riley safe as he stops a older but still a very young version of Riley from tripping over a wire in a scene where she is running and playing freely. Disgust is the emotion that keeps Riley from being "poisoned, physically and socially," when we see Riley's father try and feed her some broccoli, Disgust comes in and saves Riley from eating the horrible healthy food. Last but not least we have Anger, Anger shows up when Riley's father tells her she wont have any desert if she doesn't eat her broccoli, making her throw and tantrum with anger!

I thought this part was spot on with the reveal of the emotions of a young Riley, as parents might think "This is how my child acts," making the audience feel involved and relate to the movie straight away. I think with out being a parent, every single person can relate to this movie as we all have emotions of our own, unless you're a robot of course.

From every emotion Riley gets comes with a memory she got from the emotion, for example when Riley was still a youngster and scored her first hockey goal with her father, she felt Joyful and the memory was instantly saved in her mind. Each core memory that Riley has, creates a aspect of a personality of herself, creating a memory island and for this instance it will be Hockey Island as part of her personality.

This part can be a bit confusing but once you understand it is quiet clever from the produces to come up with. I will try and come up with my own example from myself so you can understand better, hopefully. So, before blogging i read about blogging, which lead to me writing this post right now, which has now created a Blogger Island in my mind which is part of my personality. Can you see how it has made me think from watching this movie, i bet it will have you thinking like this as well. 

We can now see that she is growing up quickly, creating a lot of different personalty islands as you expected, but Riley & her emotions will face her biggest challenge yet, as they will be moving to San Francisco. Riley and her family are now in San Francisco, where Riley feels like her new home doesn't feel like home but Joy is trying to keep her positive about things.

Riley is about to start her new school where she feel very nervous but very excited at the same time. As Riley is in her new classroom she introduces herself in a Joyful way but Sadness is getting in the way of Riley's emotions an things go wrong very quickly as Riley starts to cry in front of her new classmates. Joy & Sadness at this point in time are fighting over Riley's memories to try and save her from being sad but they get sucked up in to a tube where all distant memories go to perish.

Will Joy & Sadness make it back in time before things get worse with Riley's life? 

I haven't moved house or any where before so i wouldn't know how it feels, but i think i can understand, as it would be very sad and unknowing on whats to come. If you have moved before you can certainly relate to this part of the movie and i bet you it conjure up some past memories and emotions you might of had in that moment.

I liked this part of the movie as it shows us how Riley's emotions will play up in the most difficult situations that come in to her life. It made me think of some hard times that i have had in my life and over come through emotions of my own, it made me feel Joyful as Inside Out related to me on such a personal level and i think it will relate with most of the viewers.

Characters/Actors/Voice-Over's

Joy/Amy Poehler

Sadness/Phyllis Smith

Sadness/Bill Hader

Anger/Lewis Black

Disgust/Mindy Kaling

Conclusion

Inside Out, for me was a brilliant movie as it made me feel and think from past life experiences that i had while growing up, and iv never had that before from a movie to relate to me on a such personal level. I think this movie will be good for kids who are growing up and living their life as they should but also great for adults as they may think from their past childhood memories to bring some old emotions up they might of had.

The voice-over actors were fitting to each emotional character for Inside Out and they should be as it was a 5 year production plan, so they had time to find the right personalities for each character for the movie.

The story of Inside Out was average but very smart how they made difficult situations play with emotions as they would in real life to help us adapt and overcome our emotions, and to mold our own personalities from life experiences like Riley does.

Discussion

1. Is this one of Pixar's best Movies yet?
2. What did you think of the characters of Inside Out
3. Who was your favourite character? & Why?
4. Who was you least very character? & Why?
5. Could you relate to the movie?
6. What was your favourite scene? & Why?
7. What was your least favourite scene? & Why?
8. What could of been improved?
9. What other emotions would you put in there if you could?
10. Did you enjoy the movie overall? 

Animation Movies

Animation Movies

This will be a list of my top ten Animation movies i have watched over the years. This list wont be in any order or ranked, it will be randomized. 

How To Train Your Dragon

A teenage boy named hiccup, lives on the island of Berk. On the island of Berk it is a tradition and the way of life to fight dragons. Hiccup's weird personality makes him an outcast from all the other dragon fighters which makes him a misfit. Hiccup is thrown in to dragon fighting school by is father, who is chief of the tribe. Hiccup makes friends with a dragon and names him Toothless and plans to change the course of dragon fighting.

I liked this movie because it shows an outcast rising to become a hero in a very different way and i think some people can relate to Hiccup if they're very different or maybe they get bullied, but still rise above all, to achieve great things in life, as you see Hiccup & Toothless do.

Toothless the dragon is probably the best character of the movie as he is very cute, funny and is the best breed of dragon, as they explain that he is rare to catch as he is very fast but Hiccup manages to capture him. You could think as it like "Nothing is impossible to achieve," i think a lot of kids could learn from this wonderful movie.

Monsters Inc

Monsters Incorporation is the largest scare factory in the monster world, and a monster named James P. Sullivan is the best work colleague at Monsters Inc, as he is one of the top scarers. His best friend Mike Wazowski and working partner gets a visit from the human world as they are on one of their scare missions. The human named Boo goes to the monster world where no human has been before.

I remember when i went to the cinema back in 2001 to watch Monsters Inc, i was 11 years old at the time & i loved every bit of it. I may of went to the cinema twice to watch this movie, as it was so entertaining and good to watch. As soon as i watched it i would check out my bedroom wardrobe for monsters and hope to see one, my imagination was wild back then!

Monsters Inc has so many entertaining characters to watch, all of them are funny as they are monsters for crying out loud, how would that not be entertaining? Anyway, the two main monsters are very likable and the little human girl is so very cute also. 

The story is very clever and different which makes it stand out from most animation movies. i recommend parents have their children watch this movie.

Toy Story

A good kind-hearted doll named Woody, who belongs to a young boy called Andy thinks hes his favorite toy in the house & think he is jeopardized after Andy's parents after they buy him a new toy, Buzz Lightyear. Andy and his parents are about to move house and both Woody & Buzz have to escape the clutches of the mean kid next door to reunite with their family and other toys.

This movie is one of the classic/legendary films in the animation industry. When you think of animation movies, you will probably think of Toy Story. Toy Story to me is every child's dream come true, to have a toy come to life!

The whole story of the movie is funny & entertaining for kids, plus every kid can relate to this movie, i know i did because every kid goes through a phase of having a new toy, then it gets old and you want a new one. Toy Story shows this quality at its best and that's why i love this movie.

Wall.E

Wall.E is the last surviving robot on planet earth, Wall.E mostly spend his days tidying up the planet, piece by piece. The robot has eventually made a city made out of garbage and over the 700 years, Wall.E has developed a personally of his own. Wall.E is more than a little lonely until he spots EVE, a robot on a scanning mission. The lonely robot embarks on his greatest adventure yet when he follows EVE back in to space.

Wall.E is the type of movie for the kids and adults to enjoy, where kids will like the whole funny side to the story with all its silliness, the adults will understand the loneliness and how powerful a crush can be and what it can make you do.

I really enjoyed this movie as an adult and i would say its my favorite animation film yet, as i could relate to it in some ways. I loved how the robot had a personality of its own over the time he spent on earth and how he collected the most bizarre things he could find. 

UP

A 78 year old balloon salesman named Carl Fredricksen, is about to live a long life dream of his, To try to tie more than a thousand balloons to his house to fly away to adventure the wildness of South America. Carl's worst nightmare is about to happen as he finds a small chubby boy intruding on his dream and they now they both fly together to South America.

UP is a two time Oscar winner and it deserves every reward it got, as it is amazing! The movie is funny, entertaining and it brings out the child in me every time i watch it. Can you imagine flying in your own house that is attached to a thousand balloons, that would be awesome!

I read about on how an old lady and her house was the influence of the movie, as her house was between a property development project and the constructors wanted to buy her house to knock it down, but the old lady refused. As the construction manager became friends with the old lady after years of trying to persuade her to sell her house, the old lady died and left her house in the will of the manager. Now he has the house, he didn'twant to destroy it after all and it still remains between two very large city buildings.

Spirited Away

A 10 year old child named Chihiro and her parents stumble upon a abandoned amusement park while they are driving. When Chihiro's parents are turned in to giants pigs, she meets the mysterious Haku who explains how the amusement park is a resort for the supernatural to spend their time in the earthly realm and she has to work there to free her parents.

When i first watched this movie i was a bit mind boggled because it is so very confusing and weird, but that was a good thing because it kept me interested in the story the whole time.

I don't think this will be a movie for younger kids, maybe the ages of 10-16 would understand it as it is very complex and in depth story telling. It could be a good film for the younger kids if they like weirdness and funny looking characters though.

Tangled

Flynn Rider, the most wanted bandit is on the run and hides out in a hidden convenient tower but is immediately held captive by Rapunzel. Rapunzel who has 70 feet of magical hair has been a locked away for years and desperately wants freedom. Rapunzel & Flynn Rider make a deal with each other and set out on adventure together.

I think by now we know who Rapunzel is, don't we? She is many of the legendary fairy tales we have loved while growing up as a kid, specially the girls since they love a princess fairy tale.

I'm not usually one for the typical Disney love movies but i really did enjoy this movie as it was funny, dumb and..... funny! The younger kids would love this movie and being an adult myself i think some adults would love it too.

The Polar Express

When a young boy doubts the spirit of Christmas, he takes a train journey to the north pole and also embarks on a journey of self discovery that shows him the wonders of the Christmas spirit that never fades away for those who still believe.

I watch this movie every single Christmas time, its one of those family rituals we have each year. If you want a good Christmas spirit movie to watch then i highly recommend this one for the family and kids.

The film is also very mysterious and magical at the same time but thats Christmas, right? There's nothing like a sense of mystery for Christmas as we all wonder whats we have for Christmas each year.

Cars

A celebrity hot shot race car named Lightening Mcqueen gets lost and end up in a small deserted town called Radiator Springs. While hes on his stay at Radiator Springs the famous race car finds the true meaning of friendship and family.

Cars, in my opinion is one of the most memorable animation films out there as it is a popular theme for the kids. Kids love race cars of all kinds and this is the movie that they all want to see. If i was a kid watching this movie i would want to be a race car, not a racer but a actual car!

This movie is fun, funny & fast! So watch it quickly!

Despicable Me

A super-villain named Gru decides to make a plan to capture the moon, hoping it makes him the best super-villain there is. He has a little help from his little yellow minions who are in fact called minions, who make the weapons and equipment he needs to complete his plan. Gru is ready and his calculations are set but nothing could prepare him for his biggest challenge: Three adorable little orphan girls that make his life hell.

This movie has become one of the greats as it was a huge hit with the kids and even the adults like myself. I think it became a huge hit because everyone loves a bad guy who has a good heart, making them the good guy of the movie after all.

Another big factor of the movie is the yellow Minions that everyone loves, i mean they are hilarious to watch and they are all so silly and dumb at times, even though they are the brains behind the organisation of Gru.

conclusion

Everyone should have a list or at least a favorite animation film they like, they aren't just here for our entertainment but they can be used for a way of life, as we can learn or relate to the stories they tell us in these magical movies. 

If you would like to include you favorite list or animation movie in the comments below, that would be great to hear from you guys!