Aubrey Date: Minions & Monsters
I once again find myself at Event Cinemas Marion. This is not my usual cinema, but thanks to the impulse purchase of a Minions combo last time I visited, I have racked up enough membership points for a free movie.
What else but a Monday morning showing of Minions & Monsters in 4DX?
For the uninitiated, 4DX is the newest way to experience movies on the big screen - in Adelaide at least. The first 4DX-capable cinema was opened in 2017 in Victoria, so South Australia is still playing catch-up. However, to make up for it, the first 4DX cinema in Adelaide, which opened at Event Cinemas Marion late last year, is also Australia’s biggest.
The 4DX experience includes 3D, motion seats, wind, rain, water, pressurised air, scents, flashing lights, back punchers, and feet ticklers (yes, feet ticklers).
I have been through the 4DX experience - or rather ordeal - twice before. The first was for Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc (mouthful of a title but excellent movie), and then I took my mother and fiancée to Avatar: Fire and Ash (which was like being stuck on a rollercoaster for three and a half hours).
The current showing is filled with children and the adults they’ve dragged along. As the 4DX preview drops the audience out of a plane and parachutes them to the ground, showing off its intense features, the elderly woman in front of me says to another adult, face plastered in pure terror, “Is it like that the whole time?” Yes. Yes it is.
Unlike the D-BOX recliners you’ll find at HOYTS locations which are more of a gentle enhancement of the cinema experience, the 4DX seats knock you about like the forgotten banana in a primary school kid’s backpack.
The beginning of the showing includes several warnings indicating that this ain’t no regular movie-watching experience, but honestly they could do with more. My mum, who has the occasional back pain, hit me from the seat next to me at the beginning of Avatar after the preview gave her a taste of what the next three hours were going to entail. Sorry, mum.
If you don’t like being bucked like a bull-rider and seriously wondering why your seat doesn’t come with a seatbelt, the 4DX experience is not for you. Personally, I find it thrilling. There is no better start to the week for me than getting thrown around like a ragdoll. Here is me saddled up for my experience:
Quick confession: I am yet to properly enjoy a Minions movie. I am not a hater by any means, but perhaps a victim to oversaturation. I watched The Rise of Gru when it hit streaming, after everyone had gone insane and worn suits to go see it and claimed it was the greatest movie ever. It wasn’t. Once again, Minions & Monsters has a bit of a hype surrounding it, and once again, I fell for it.
It was good! Maybe it was the 4DX, maybe it was hearing the hooting and hollering of excited kids reacting to all the butt jokes, or maybe I was just jazzed about scoring a free ticket, but I had a decent time with Minions & Monsters.
(Sidenote: the ticket was free but the 3D glasses are $1.50 extra, which is crazy because you need them to watch the movie. You also don’t get to keep them. There go my dreams of starting a new fashion trend.)
I enjoyed watching the Minions’ misadventures through Old Hollywood, inserting themselves into film history in numerous amusing ways. Cynical Aubrey, who watched Supergirl last month, is nowhere to be found today.
The 4DX really shines in the few action setpieces, notably an exciting train sequence that had me rocking back and forth in my chair, happy as a galah. I wouldn’t say this upgrade is necessary for this particular movie, but I have a feeling I would have been a bit more bored watching this normally.
I’m not quite sold on the transition from Old Hollywood highlights to monster mayhem, and that is in part due to the film’s simple storyline which is to be expected. This is a children’s movie through and through, but that doesn’t stop itself from doing a Citizen Kane gag where a minion says “poop” instead of “Rosebud”.
Overall, good movie! If you like minions and movies, it’s a movie with minions that’s about minions making movies. And at its core, it’s a heartwarming tale of friendship and creativity that will inspire minions young and old. Consider this minion satisfied. (How long have I been wearing these overalls?)
Aubrey hot tip: do not bring food or drinks into the 4DX cinema. Do not be fooled by the cupholders - they won’t save you. I brought myself a hot Milo in a thermos in my backpack, but I was wise enough to not drink it during the film. It ended up leaking in my bag anyway, but that was due to unrelated elements outside of my control.