First modification:
What is small, clumsy, yellow and promotes the rule of law? A minion, at least according to a Chinese-edited version of the latest animated film starring the supervillain Gru and his army of diminutive helpers.
“Minions 2: A Villain Is Born” opened in Chinese theaters on August 19. It is the fifth installment of the series “My favorite villain” (“Despicable Me”, in English).
This prequel tells the story of the youth of Gru, the franchise’s supervillain. But unlike the other international versions, in mainland China it offers a different ending.
The animated film sequences were left unchanged, but various stills and commentary were added at the end.
In the original film, Gru’s mentor, Will Karnage, is the author of an attempted robbery and escapes justice after faking his death.
But in the version broadcast in mainland China, the character is captured by the police and sentenced to 20 years in prison, where he becomes more serious and decides to pursue “his passion for acting” by creating “a theater company,” the text says. final.
As for Gru, he becomes an exemplary father and returns “to the right path,” says the alternate ending, ignoring the reality of the previous films in the franchise.
In order to be broadcast in China, Chinese and foreign audiovisual works must pass through a censorship committee. For this reason, it is not the first time that a foreign film has been modified to conform to what the authorities present as more “healthy” values.
At the beginning of the year, David Fincher’s film “Fight Club” (1999), with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, was also modified for broadcast on the Chinese platform Tencent Video.
The return of the American series “Friends” to China on a streaming platform in February also caused incomprehension from viewers, who noted that dialogue referring to a character’s homosexuality had been removed.
It was not immediately clear whether the ending of “Minions 2” in mainland China was changed at the request of the censors or the production.
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