MINIONS: The Rise of Gru

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film opens in 1976. A supervillain named Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson) runs through the city as the Anti-Villain League chases after her, as she has stolen a map. After taking the AVL agents down, Belle makes it to her hideout at the Criminal Records music shop. There, she joins the rest of her team, the Vicious 6 – Strong Hold (Danny Trejo), Nun-Chuck (Lucy Lawless), Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren), Jean-Clawed (Jean-Claude Van Damme), and their founder, Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin). They look at the map and find that it contains the location to an artifact known as the Zodiac Stone, which turns the users into powerful animals during the Chinese New Year.

The Vicious 6 fly to an island where the Stone is. Wild Knuckles enters the temple and locates the Zodiac Stone, but he is attacked by small metal guardians. He fights them off and flees the temple, only to find more guardians going after him. The rest of the 6 pull Knuckles up, but they grab the Stone from him and double-cross him, declaring that he is old and that the team needs to be run by fresh blood. They drop Knuckles into the ocean and fly off.

Elsewhere, young Gru (Steve Carell) is 11 years old and dreams of being a supervillain, which makes him unpopular with the other kids that think he’s a weirdo. He gets picked up by Kevin, Bob, and Stuart (all Pierre Coffin, along with the rest of the Minions). They ride back to Gru’s house, where he finds something for him in the mail. It is a message from Belle Bottom, as Gru had sent an application to join the Vicious 6 since he is their biggest fan, and Knuckles is his favorite villain (or, was). Belle invites Gru to show up for an audition at the Criminal Records shop. Gru is excited and thinks his time as a supervillain has come. He is seen just living with his unsupportive mother Marlena (Julie Andrews), as well as the rest of the Minions that he has employed as his henchmen. Gru announces the big news to the Minions, who all support their “mini boss” (though he’s not fond of the name).

Wild Knuckles turns out to still be alive, as he is living at home with three of his own henchmen (John DiMaggio, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Jimmy O. Yang). He is still bitter at the Vicious 6 for kicking him out of his own team, and he finds out that they are holding auditions for a new member.

The next day, Gru makes it to Criminal Records and meets a young Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), an aspiring mad scientist. He shows Gru one of his new inventions, a gun that shoots a sticky green hand to grab things. Nefario gives it to Gru and shows him the secret entrance to the Vicious 6 hideout. However, when he meets them, they dismiss him for being a kid, as Jean-Clawed assumed he was a tiny man when they reviewed his application. As they send him away, another candidate shows up and tries to show off his flight suit, only to have his jetpack malfunction and make him fly like crazy. The Vicious 6 try to stop him, causing them to be distracted as Gru spots the Zodiac Stone behind them. He uses Nefario’s gun and swipes the Stone, but the 6 catch him and begin to pursue. Gru rejoins the Minions and tosses the Stone to one Minion, Otto. Gru rides away as the 6 chase him. He causes Strong Hold and Nun-Chuck to knock each other out, and when Belle and Svengeance latch onto Gru’s bike, he uses the rocket to get them out of there. Meanwhile, Knuckles witnessed the whole thing and follows Gru in his van.

When Gru makes it back to his house, he and the other Minions wait for Otto to come home. When he does, he presents Gru with a rock with googly eyes. Otto explains that he ended up going through a bunch of mishaps until he ended up at a birthday party and traded the birthday boy the Stone for the pet rock. Gru is furious at Otto for his screwup, and he promptly fires all the Minions. He heads off on his own to go find the Stone, but as he walks down the street, Knuckles’ henchmen grab him and throw him in their van, which Kevin watches. He goes to tell the other Minions that their mini boss has been kidnapped.

Gru is brought to Wild Knuckles’ hideout. Gru is excited to meet his idol, but Knuckles is angry to find that Gru doesn’t have the Stone. He contacts Gru’s home to attempt to get a ransom from his mom, but Kevin answers the phone, and Knuckles tells him to deliver the Stone to San Francisco within two days time, or they will kill Gru.

Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto head to the house of the kid that Otto gave the Stone to. The kid tells them that he gave it to his uncle (RZA), who is taking off on his motorcycle. Otto rides after him on a tricycle with the other three Minions find a bus for an ad to fly to San Francisco. They go to the airport and pose as pilots and a flight attendant to sneak onboard the next flight. Kevin and Stuart try to fly and end up touching all the buttons and creating a mess before they end up landing safely (sort of).

Knuckles puts Gru in a torture device that’s a record player that will push him closer to spinning saw blades. He sends his henchmen to go out, and they find the Minions. They try to grab them, thinking they have the Stone, and they end up in Chinatown where an acupuncturist named Master Chow (Michelle Yeoh) watches the henchmen beating on the Minions. Despite being a small old lady, Chow displays impressive kung fu skills and fights the henchmen off. The Minions ask Chow to teach them her skills, but she says she is retired from that life. However, when the trio flash their puppy eyes at her, she relents.

The henchmen quit on Knuckles after their mishap. He frees Gru from the trap and makes him do chores. While cleaning his pool full of crocodiles, Knuckles falls in. Gru manages to pull him out and save him, and Knuckles is thankful. He brings Gru along on a heist. They go to the Bank of Evil, posing as grandfather and grandson. Knuckles pretends to have a heart attack so Gru can swipe the keys of Mr. Perkins (Will Arnett). Gru manages to steal the Mona Lisa, making Knuckles proud.

Otto rides across many states on his trike to catch up to the Biker, but he loses sight of him. The Biker ends up spotting Otto and picks him up, taking him to San Francisco on his bike and giving him the Stone.

Chow trains the Minions in martial arts, but they end up hurting themselves more than they do any learning. They quickly manage to step up their skills, but Chow says they only passed basic training. Unfortunately, the Minions have already fled and are on their way to save Gru.

The Vicious 6 track down Gru’s house and tear the roof off, interrogating Marlena and the other Minions as to his whereabouts. One of the Minions spills that Gru was taken by Knuckles. The 6 then head off to Knuckles’ house and also tear the top off, trashing the place and finding nothing.

When Gru and Knuckles return, they find his home destroyed. He knows it was the 6 that did this, and he becomes upset that they would continue to try and hurt him after all this time. He tells Gru he is giving up and he just tells him to go home, despite Gru’s protests.

Downtown, a Chinese New Year Parade is going on. Otto ends up running into the crowd. Gru spots him from the trolley and runs after him. Otto shows Gru the Stone, and he expresses pride in Otto. Unfortunately, the Vicious 6 have caught up to them, and they capture Gru. Just as they are cornered by the Anti-Villain League, Belle grabs the Stone and utilizes its powers to turn her and the team into giant animal monsters. Belle becomes a fire-breathing dragon, Strong Hold becomes a bull, Nun-Chuck becomes a snake, Svengeance becomes a tiger, and Jean-Clawed becomes a huge monkey (with his lobster claw arm). They grab Gru and tie him to the hands of a clock tower, which will slowly tear him apart.

Knuckles shows up to save Gru, along with Kevin, Stuart, and Bob. Belle turns the three into (respectively) a rabbit, a chicken, and a ram. Although Knuckles puts up a good fight, Belle takes him out with her fire breath. The three remember Chow’s words and unleash their inner beasts, and they proceed to beat up the mutated Vicious 6. Otto frees Gru, and he rushes off to help his friends. The three Minions overpower the 6, and Gru grabs the Stone, using it to turn them all into rats. The AVL shows up and takes them into custody. Knuckles is injured and is also arrested, though he tells Gru that he will see him again soon.

Cut to a funeral, where it seems that Knuckles has died. Gru gives him a touching eulogy, only to find that Knuckles faked his death and is hiding. After the Minions give a Minion rendition of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. Gru rejoins his idol, and they drive off into the sunset with the rest of the Minions.

During the credits, Gru brings the rehired Minions to the Criminal Records shop, which appears to be closing. Gru asks Dr. Nefario if he would like to officially work for him and build gadgets, but Nefario says he is giving up the villain business. Gru and the Minions convince him with their puppy eyes, and he shows Gru a surprise – the rocket car that Gru is seen with as an adult. Together, the new villain team blasts off for more despicable deeds.

The film shows how the Minions came to work for Gru, and how he began his rise to becoming the world's greatest supervillain.

As an 11-year-old, Gru idolizes the Vicious 6, the world's most notorious villain team. When he tries to audition for them, they turn him down because he's a kid. He steals from them the Zodiac Stone, an artifact that turns the users into animals on the Chinese New Year. A Minion named Otto loses the Stone after trading it with a kid for a pet rock, causing Gru to fire the Minions in anger. He gets captured by henchmen working for Wild Knuckles, the founding leader of the Vicious 6 that got kicked out of his own team because he's too old. Minions Kevin, Stuart, and Bob are joined by Otto in their mission to rescue Gru.

Otto rides off chasing a biker who ended up with the Stone and befriends him on his road trip. Kevin, Stuart, and Bob go to San Francisco to find Gru and are taught kung fu by the retired Master Chow. Meanwhile, Gru bonds with Wild Knuckles, who has always been his favorite villain. Knuckles ends up taking a liking to the kid as well.

The final showdown takes place downtown in San Francisco during a Chinese New Year parade. Otto brings the Stone back to Gru, but they are found and captured by the Vicious 6. They take the Stone and morph into giant animal monsters, nearly killing Gru in the process. Knuckles and the three Minions fight the 6 and protect Gru, and Gru grabs the Stone to turn the villains into rats. They are taken into custody by the Anti-Villain League, as well as Knuckles.

Knuckles fakes his death and continues to work with Gru. Later, Gru rehires the Minions and goes to hire Dr. Nefario to be his personal mad scientist.