Minions: The Rise of Gru turns to a unique new climax of China’s censors

Censors have altered the climax of the recent animated film “Minions: The Rise of Gru” for its domestic release in China. In this news article, let’s see the changes and what social media users across the country noticed over the weekend.

An instance of the modification

The editing is yet another example of Chinese authorities editing a popular Hollywood film to make it more politically correct, leading some viewers to lament the changes.

According to posts and screenshots from the movie shared on Weibo, a platform similar to Twitter, censors tacked on an appendix in which Wild Knuckles, a main character in the heist film, was caught by police and served 20 years in jail.

The greatest accomplishment and climax of the movie  

God, a co-conspirator of Wild Knuckles, “returned to his family,” and “his biggest accomplishment is being the father to his three girls,” screenshots of the film showed.

In the international version, the film ends with Gru and Wild Knuckles, the stories of two thief anti-heroes riding off together after Wild Knuckles faked his death to evade capture by authorities.

Numerous online commentators mocked the climax, saying it resembled a PowerPoint presentation.

One online reviewer’s opinion regarding the above statement

DuSir, an online movie review publisher with 14.4 million followers on Weibo, noted that the Chinese version of the film ran one minute longer than the international version and questioned why the extra time is required.

“It’s only us who need special guidance and care, for fear that a cartoon will ‘corrupt’ us,” DuSir wrote in a piece published Saturday.

Hub of overseas movies with certain scenes modifications

China restricts the number of overseas movies shown in domestic movie theaters. Many Hollywood films that screen in the country have certain scenes omitted or altered.

Some viewers sometimes note that alternative endings to films diverge far from the original.

Also Read: The first major U.S. film to be released in China since June is Minions: The Rise of Gru

Last year, Chinese viewers of the classic 1999 film “Fight Club” noticed that the original ending, in which the protagonist and his alter ego detonate a set of skyscrapers, was not on the version shown on the domestic streaming site Tencent Video.

Nargis