Minions Review - Out on Blu-ray December 8

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Minions

The breakout stars the world fell in love with in Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me global film franchise headline their own movie for the first time in Minions, available on Digital HD November 24, 2015, and on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD and On Demand on December 8, 2015 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. A much anticipated prequel to the unprecedented worldwide blockbusters Despicable Me and the beloved sequel Despicable Me 2, Minions is an immensely entertaining film for all audiences called “inventive and hilarious” by Julian Roman, Movieweb.com.  The Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and Digital HD also come with three all-new mini-movies and even more Minions everyone will want to watch again and again especially during the busy holiday travel season.

The story of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Minions begins at the dawn of time. Starting as single-celled yellow organisms, Minions evolve through the ages, perpetually serving the most despicable of masters.  Continuously unsuccessful at keeping these masters—from T. rex to Napoleon—the Minions find themselves without someone to serve and fall into a deep depression. But one Minion named Kevin has a plan, and he—alongside teenage rebel Stuart and lovable little Bob—ventures out into the world to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow. The trio embark upon a thrilling journey that ultimately leads them to their next potential master, Scarlet Overkill (Academy Award®-winner Sandra Bullock), the world’s first-ever female super-villain.  They travel from frigid Antarctica to 1960s New York City, ending in ‘mod’ London, where they must face their biggest challenge to date: saving all of Minionkind...from annihilation.

My kids absolutely loved the mischievous minions from the moment they watched Despicable Me, so it was inevitable that they'd be clamoring to watch Minions when it was released in theaters.

Of course they enjoyed Minions, but now that they have the Blu-ray, they can watch it a lot more often, and they can even watch it on our smart phone while we're out and about thanks to the Digital HD download.

They absolutely love watching the Minions movie.  From the start of the movie, when the Minions are "singing" to the tune of the Universal theme music in the opening, until the very end, where they meet a future evil, "despicable" boss, the kids were constantly laughing.  From bouncing on beds, to boogying with bad guys, to bashing bees, the Minions found themselves in all sorts of hilarious predicaments, meeting all sorts of funny characters along the way.  Even adults will get a kick out of the movie and all of its pop culture references.                        

There are lots of great bonus features exclusive to Blu-ray and Digital HD (see below for details).

Below you can also watch Competition, a mini-movie from the Blu-ray.  This marks the first time a mini-movie from the Despicable Me franchise has been made available in its entirety prior to the home entertainment release and is one of three mini-movies that can be found exclusively on the MINIONS Digital HD release (released 11/24) and on the Blu-ray to be released on 12/8.

• THREE ALL NEW ORIGINAL MINI-MOVIES:
• Cro Minion
• Competition
• Binky Nelson Unpacified
• DELETED SCENE – ME, MYSELF AND STUART
• AROUND THE WORLD INTERACTIVE MAP - Explore the world of the Minions with this interactive map featuring a collection of games, trivia, featurettes, storyboards, and more all themed to movie locations.
• BEHIND THE GOGGLES – THE ILLUMINATION STORY OF THE MINIONS – Get a “behind the googles” look at the history and evolution of everyone’s favorite yellow henchmen.
• WRITER - See how the Minions evolve throughout the different time periods. Writer, Brian Lynch discusses creating distinctive personalities for the three main Minions, his VillainCon idea, and the Minion family.
• BOSS’ OFFICE – Illumination Entertainment CEO and founder and Minions producer, Chris Meledandri discusses the origins of Illumination Entertainment and the genesis of both Despicable Me and the Minions.
• ART DEPARTMENT - See how the Minions came to life, from the original art concept of the henchmen to the final creation of the Minions and how to differentiate them between new time periods. Also, see how the idea of Herb and Scarlett Overkill’s characters came to be.
• GALLERY – CONCEPT ART (stills)
• GALLERY – COLOR SCRIPT (stills)
• COMPOSER - Listen to how composer Heitor Pereira creates the sound of the Minions and what it takes to create big music for small characters.
• ACTORS STUDIO - Listen to the actors’ experiences being part of the Minions movie, who their favorite Minions are, and why they love them so much
• NOTICE BOARD (stills)
• SAFETY VIDEO

• ILLUMINATION MACGUFF ANIMATION
• ANIMATION - Go behind the scenes and hear about the challenges and excitement behind the Minion characters and bringing them alive through animation in the movie

LIGHTING, LAYOUT AND EFFECTS - A look at the ways in which layout and lighting plays a big role in the emotion and motivation in the movie. Also see the ways in which they try to keep the 60’s vintage look and the challenges they face with very technical shots, where one shot can take weeks.

• 3D MODELS GALLERY (stills)
• DIRECTORS - Directors Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda discuss the unique challenges of creating distinctive personalities for the Minions  
• PRODUCERS - Producers Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy and Executive Producer Chris Renaud discuss the three main characters – Kevin, Stuart, and Bob – little family in the movie and the goal of creating a special bond between them and the audience when they leave the theater.
• EDITORIAL - Editor Claire Dodgson discusses the distinctive editing style of the Despicable Me franchise and the three-year process it takes to make these movies from the original storyboards to cutting scenes with Minion dialogue.
• STORYBOARD ARTIST - Learn how the actions of the words of the script turn into visual drawings and how much work is put in from the rough sketches to the final cut of the movie.
• GALLERY – STUART HOT TUB STORYBOARD (stills)

• JINGLE BELLS MINION STYLE - This holiday favorite is brought to life in a merry-Minion way. Now you get to sing along to the beloved video that was the most shared piece of content on Facebook in 2014.   

• THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS THEATRICAL TRAILER

DVD BONUS FEATURES

• DELETED SCENE – ME, MYSELF AND STUART

• JINGLE BELLS MINION STYLE - This holiday favorite is brought to life in a merry-Minion way. Now you get to sing along to the beloved video that was the most shared piece of content on Facebook in 2014.   
• THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS THEATRICAL TRAILER