Minions: Empathetic Lessons From Small Yellow Creatures Serving the Despicable

Reviews the film Minions (2015) directed by Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin (2015). Minions are fictional computer-animated yellow pill-shaped creatures who speak their own language. They live to serve the most despicable master they can find. The film tells the evolutionary story of the minions and their adventures in modern time. Below the straightforward narrative and slapstick humor, the film fascinates us in regards to the fact that we are able to intuitively understand the minions in spite of them being very different from humans. Through the exploration of the minions’ resemblance to children, their facial expressions, their display of character strengths, and their need for a purpose in life, we identify reasons why we are able to understand the minions as we understand ourselves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)