Get Tickets MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU opens in theatres on July 1st

In Summer 2010, after TOY STORY 3 came in and dominated the box office, the first movie from a then-relatively unknown animation studio came onto the scene and gave birth to one of the most successful film franchises in recent memory. In the 12 years since the debut of Illumination’s highly successful DESPICABLE ME, the franchise, its characters, and the animation studio as a whole have all become pop culture mainstays, especially those adorable, hilarious, and chaotic minions.

And with the fifth movie in the franchise, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, coming to AMC Theatres nationwide in July, now seems like a perfect time to go back in time and look at some of the great family-friendly moments involving Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and the rest of the minions that have brought us joy and laughter over the years. Let’s take a trip, a fall, a stumble, and an explosion down memory lane with this zany bunch…

Minion Photocopier

One aspect of the minions that make the DESPICABLE ME movies beloved by moviegoers of all ages is the group’s ability to pull off physical comedy so masterfully that it speaks a universal language understood by all. There are few examples that illustrate this more than the brief yet hilarious scene in the franchise’s first installment where a group of minions do what any immature and mischievous little monsters would do with a photocopier: make copies of their butts.

Although the scene doesn’t really have anything to do with the plot of the movie, it does provide a nice reprieve from the action while these destructive yet incredibly innocent minions take pleasure in the simpler side of office life, and life in general. The way in which the minions keep saying “butt” is undeniably hilarious and the scene plays out just long enough to create a great sense of comedic timing that is both funny and joyful.

Minion Fire Alarm

Just like its predecessor, 2013’s DESPICABLE ME 2 found the perfect combination of heart and humor with a continuation of Gru’s journey from being one of the world’s premier supervillains to a family man with aspirations of finding love. Gru’s hopelessly romantic quest to find love has him cross paths with Kristen Wiig’s Lucy Wilde, the Anti-Villain League agent who steals his heart and brings out the best, and the worst, in him.

There’s one scene in particular where Gru is preparing to ask Lucy out on a date, with one of the minions serving as her stand-in during a practice phone call. Everything is going well until Gru is angered by the minion’s response, pulls out a flamethrower, and burns the phone to a crisp. But it gets better when the rest of the minions, dressed up as firefighters, bust through the wall with an axe, firehose, and makeshift ambulance in the form of a minion with three sirens attached to his head.

This scene brings the laughs and so much joy, especially with the one minion yelling “bee-do, bee-do” into a bullhorn amidst the chaos.

Minions In Prison

Family-friendly movies are probably the last place you would expect to see a great prison scene, but there are a few great examples from over the years. Come on, who doesn’t think the prison sequences in PADDINGTON 2 are the best parts of the live-action/animation hybrid? And even though DESPICABLE ME 3 doesn’t have a long song and dance number where prisoners and guards are living in some idyllic fairy tale with marmalade, stage productions, and bedtime stories, there is a sequence with the minions behind bars that is just too good to pass up.

After leaving Gru behind, the minions fall into trouble with the law and are sent to prison. But instead of being at the bottom of the pecking order, the group of yellow creatures soon take over the inmate population and make the state prison their stomping grounds. Tattoos, bribes, weightlifting, and so much more go down in this hilarious scene, but the real gem is what it leads to: the minions' planned escape in a blimp made out of prison uniforms, toilets, bathtubs, and heavy machinery.

Banana Mirage

It is no secret the minions like, err, are obsessed with bananas, as the yellow creatures have done everything from singing about their love of the fruit to getting one tattooed on their skin in the prison scene mentioned just above. Well, there’s no better example of this obsession than in the opening minutes of the 2015 prequel film MINIONS, in which Bob, Kevin, and Stuart find themselves stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean after centuries of failed attempts at finding a villain to serve.

As the three castaways float in no particular direction on the high seas, Bob does what so many other characters have done in similar situations over the years: he imagines his two friends turning into food. But it’s not a comically large turkey leg, ham, or steak. No, Kevin and Stuart are transformed into giant bananas in this hilarious mirage. Brought to the brink of madness and starvation due to his time at sea, Bob jumps on Kevin and starts licking him. But it doesn’t stop there as Stuart follows suit, leaving Kevin in quite a pickle.

And just when the situation reaches its peak, the minions are startled by a passing ship and notice the Statue of Liberty just ahead, kicking off the movie’s main story…

These are just some of the great minions moments from the DESPICABLE ME movies that have brought laughs and joy over the years. And with MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU coming to AMC Theatres nationwide on July 1, there’s a good chance we’ll see even more iconic moments featuring those innocent, pure, and incredibly destructive creatures.

Get Tickets MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU opens in theatres on July 1st