Did you know that in the first Minions A spin-off film released in 2015, the film explains why loud and obnoxious characters who like to help bad guys didn’t lend a hand to any leaders during World War I or II? It’s true. But the latest entry in the franchiseMinions and monsters, is apparently restoring all of that, and now I have questions.
This is not breaking news. Instead, it’s sort of been known for a while now and was fully confirmed by Universal and Illumination during last week’s CinemaCon. But I missed it, so when I saw a post on social media claiming that the new Minions The film showed footage set in the 1920s and featuring the Minions become classic Hollywood starsmy reaction was: Excuse me, what?
You can see some of that Hollywood action in this previously released trailer.
As I mentioned, the first Minions The film spends its first few minutes explaining the origin of the Minions and their role in the story. They always helped the meanest and most despicable people, until Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812. While helping the French general, they made big mistakes and made him angry. So they fled to the snowy north of Russia hide and build their own mini-civilization.
And they all stayed there until 1968, not leaving the cave until well after the end of two of the greatest, bloodiest, and most horrific wars in human history. Fans have long joked about how the creators made sure to canonically hide the Minions for over a century to get around the Hitler question. Because, yeah, if these Minions were really trying to help the worst, baddest villains in the world and they were hanging out in the 1930s, well… that would be awkward.
And yet, Minions and monsters reconnects the ice cave and tells us that at least some of the Minions ventured out long before the 1960s. Now, it’s possible that Minions and monsters will have a solution to this problem. Maybe the movie will end with the Minions returning to their ice cave after a fun adventure with a baby monster, and they’ll stay there for another 40 years or so. This would make it less of a retcon and more of a small change to the timeline. I think the funniest way to solve this would be to have some background dialogue or diary hinting that, in the universe of the films, World War I didn’t happen. It wouldn’t be the first time Minions the franchise has had a huge reconversion of traditions.
Anyway, this was supposed to be a 250 word blog, and now I’m approaching 450, so I’ll stop thinking about it and move on. Minions and monsters hits theaters July 1.