Minions is the 128th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr and Andy Signore. It parodies the 2015 animated comedy film Minions. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It was published on December 1, 2015, to coincide with the film's release on home video and Blu-ray. It is 3 minutes 25 seconds long. It has been viewed over 8.9 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - Minions of YouTube
"Cynical studio branding exercises make just as crappy films as you'd expect." ~ Honest Trailers - Minions
Script[]
From Universal Pictures'... marketing department, comes one of the most expensive, far-reaching promotional campaigns of all time, and also a movie:
Minions
You loved the first two Despicable Me's. Now, in the tradition of Joey, The Cleveland Show, and The Battle for Endor, comes a spin-off that takes a character who's fun in small doses and makes you wish they stayed in the background. Get ready for a Minions origin story that doesn't even tell you what a Minion is, or where their language comes from, or whether they're immortal, or whether they have genders, or why some have one eye, or why they always wear goggles, or how they reproduce. But who cares? You're either six years old or a parent wishing they could check their phone in the movie theater.
Steve Carell is back...at the very end for, like, thirty seconds to remind you how much better this movie would have been with little Gru and some Minion babies. Instead, hang with his bland replacement, Scarlet Overkill, who has our three heroes steal the queen's crown, which they do, then she hates them...?
Scarlet Overkill: I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I hate you.
...in ninety minutes of lazy gags that makes Cars 2 look like the beginning of Up, featuring all these 1960s references that don't belong in a movie for little kids or their thirtysomething parents. But they will repeat the word "banana" over and over again, so at least it's got that going for it.
Try to undo the harmful messages the movie will drill into your kids' impressionable heads, like "be a mindless follower", "don't question authority", and "shooting at the cops is okay as long as you're little and cute". Y'know, for kids' characters, they really do kill a lotta people (shows an increasing death count for the Minions).
So after Pixar showed us that children's movies can be great (shows clips from Inside Out) and The LEGO Movie proved that even shameless marketing can be fun, let Minions remind you that cynical studio branding exercises make just as crappy films as you'd expect.
Starring Sandra Bollocks (Sandra Bullock as Scarlet Overkill), SpongeBob RoundPants (Pierre Coffin as Bob), Stewart Little (Pierre Coffin as Stuart), Kevin Hart (Pierre Coffin as Kevin), Only 2 Minutes of Gru for Some Reason (Steve Carell as Gru), and Those Horrible Facebook Memes Your Aunt Keeps Posting That Don't Have Anything to Do with Minions At All.
Honest title for Minions - Despicable Greed. Title design by Robert Holtby.
Despicable Greed
If they hadn't gotten stuck in that ice cave, the Minions totally would've helped Hitler and the Nazis, too, right?
Trivia[]
- Screen Junkies have produced Honest Trailers for several other computer animated movies including Despicable Me 1 & 2, The Emoji Movie, The Boss Baby, The Secret Life of Pets, Toy Story, Inside Out, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Cars & Cars 2, The Incredibles, Shrek, Frozen, Moana, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6 and Zootopia.
- An Honest Trailer Commentary for this episode was recorded and was available on the Screen Junkies Plus until the website/app was discontinued. Screen Junkies don't currently have any way of releasing the video.
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - Minions has a 97.5% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Geeks of Doom said the Honest Trailer was full of "pointed criticisms" and that Screen Junkies "just gleefully shreds this crap-fest." CinemaBlend remarked that "Honest Trailers have savaged the recent Minions film in a brutal and enjoyable fashion." The Huffington Post said the Honest Trailer "does not disappoint" and noted that it "pretty much confirms that Minions wasn't actually a movie, but just a really great marketing ploy to take over the world toy stores and every kid product ever. The Honest Trailer also points out important plot holes and the movie's scary resemblance to "Joey," a show where the background characters you never totally invested in became the main focus."
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - Minions
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
Title design by Robert Holtby
Series Created by Andy Signore & Brett Weiner
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr, & Andy Signore
Edited by Anthony Falleroni
External links []
- Watch ‘Minions’ Honest Trailer: ‘Despicable Greed’ (Video) - The Wrap article
- ‘Minions’ Honest Trailer: A Movie That Makes ‘Cars 2’ Look Like the Beginning of ‘Up’ - Slash Film article
- Honest Trailer: ‘Minions’ - Geeks of Doom article
- Honest Trailers Slams ''Lazy'' Minions Movie - E! Online article
- Aw, This Minions Honest Trailer Is Just Mean, Watch It Now - CinemaBlend article
- Honest Trailer For 'Minions' Confirms The Movie Was Actually Just A Marketing Ploy - Huffington Post article