Help with Gamecube remotes on the Wii

Ok.

So I am borrowing the Wii from a few buddies of mine to play with my sister a little, and need to give it back to them in 6 hours.

However, they only gave me Gamecube controllers (2 of them) and no Wiimotes.

So, the Wii starts fine, I have everything plugged in (Power, and VCR plugged in), even the Gamecube controllers are plugged in. But after it starts, it won't read anything we press. First it asks for us to hit "A" for the health manual thing, which we can't do, then it eventually moves on to the main screen, where we still cannot do anything!

Help!