Despicable Me (2010)

I was pretty surprised by the quality of this film. As usual, the animation was stunning, but I digress. What kids' flick isn't on par with the animation now-a-days, aside maybe the few nobodys that no one ever cares for. Disney and Dreamworks are no longer the only real competition. The emotion in the film is definitely its strongest suit, for you'll probably find yourself very touched by these characters by the end of the movie. This makes up for the rather simple story actually, one you probably have seen in some cartoon show somewhere.

The voice acting was pretty on spot, with Steve Carell Russel Brand, and Jason Segal. And for the record this is probably the only production starring Miranda Cosgrove that I actually respect. The only other I have to knit pick about is perhaps the score; not the most stunning I've ever heard, but it holds my attention rather well. So definitely check this film out, because it's worth it.

Fmovies: As a reviewer mentioned, this year is set to be a great year of animated films, much like the previous two years. This is proved with Pixar's unmatched (touching wood) winning streak and Dreamworks' surprise turn "How To Train Your Dragon", which proceeds to continue the ever- increasing "golden years" of computer-animated films. Universal's "Despicable Me" is yet another gem in an already quite-heavy bag of diamonds.

With nice direction, the filmmakers were able to combine two quite unoriginal plots into one with ease and without force, and they managed to add wit, charm and smart humor to it as well. Not to mention heart. I have never heard of the filmmakers before, but this is a heck of a debut from two first-time animated film directors. The humor is also not too over the top, yet utterly hilarious and ingenious when they pop up. Most of the jokes had the entire audience rolling in the aisles. The three girls end up being adorable and lovable characters, as per the main character/protagonist/villain, whom you can't help but cheer on and care for, no matter what he does. Steve Carell is spot-on as Gru and he makes the role funnier than it should be, I mean his voice and humorous style is there behind the funny accent. And what Gru plots and does is beyond ridiculous and far too funny to be deemed "serious" by any cynic. Some hilarious supporting characters round out the primary cast, most notably Gru's assistant Dr. Nefarious played by Russell Brand, and I could not believe Julie Andrews was Gru's mother, I hardly recognized her voice at all! Jason Segel was hilarious as Gru's vain nemesis Vector. And let's not forget the utterly adorable and hilarious minions and their wacky antics.

Technical wise, the animation is gorgeous, bright and nicely rendered with a deft touch of simplicity to it, causing it to be not too overly glossy and polished. This makes the animation look less artificial and more fluid, and this especially shows when it comes to the practical jokes. The music score is just wonderful and suits the moods of the film as they come along. The 3D is great and used quite a number of times in the movie during many effect-driven scenes, which is very impressive considering the poor up-conversion to 3D of MANY movies of late.

Overall, this animated film is a great fun time for the kids and family to see, and even some teens will get many laughs out of it as well. This is a very adorable film, full of charm and heart, and with a funny and lighthearted storyline, and may the powers that be reward this at the box office, if the mediocre "Eclipse" isn't taking all of its viewers already. Looks like Universal's animation days are returning.

Entertainment value: 10/10

Overall: 7.5/10

"Now, the rest of the plan is simple. I fly to the moon. I shrink the moon. I grab the moon. I sit on the toilet."

Any animated movie that was released during 2010 is inevitably going to be compared to Toy Story 3, so let's get that out of the way, first. No, Despicable Me is not "better" than Toy Story 3. On an emotional and story-telling level, it's not nearly as profound or involving. But Despicable Me isn't trying to be profound, it's aiming for amusement and entertainment. And on those two fronts, Dreamworks has a definite success on their hands.

My favorite thing about Despicable Me is how humorous it is. This is seriously the funniest animated movie that I've seen in quite a while. It has the expected amount of jokes that will give kids (and older people, too) the giggles, as well as lots of comedy that only the grown-up crowd will appreciate. It's fun to see what will pop up next (keep your eyes open for a particularly amusing reference to a particularly un-amusing scene in The Godfather).

Despicable Me is also a vivid, bright movie that's pleasing to the eye in all the right ways. The character designs are stylized and fun, the soundtrack is a nice change of pace for this kind of film, and the pacing is excellent, with nary a dull stretch. The voice talent is great, but I will admit that most of them were pretty much unrecognizable. I wouldn't have known that Jason Segel, Kristin Wiig, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, or Will Arnett were even involved, if not for the credits and the fact that I had read about them beforehand. Steve Carell and Jack McBrayer (in a small but hilarious part) are really the only voices that are easily recognizable. That's not a criticism, just an observation. 

So yeah, it's pretty clear that I liked this movie a lot. It reminds me most of Monsters, Inc. (a movie I absolutely love) in the way that it combines sweetness and humor in a manner that's never cloying or annoying. Watch it with your kids, watch it with your friends, watch it with your significant other, or watch it by yourself. You'll laugh, you'll cheer, you'll say "awwww", and you'll fall in love with Agnes, Edith, and Margo even faster than Gru does. 

Despicable Me fmovies. What a year it has been for animated films. So far in 2010 we have had three great films from three rival studios. DreamWorks kicked things off with the surprise sleeper hit How to Train Your Dragon and animation juggernaut Pixar countered with the hotly anticipated Toy Story 3. Now Universal's Illumination Entertainment has released the audaciously titled Despicable Me and while it may be the "worst" of the trio, it is certainly the most purely entertaining.

The strengths of Despicable Me lie within veins commonly found in animated features, but his entry simply utilizes them extremely effectively. Along with jumping on the 3-D bandwagon (my theatre was screening it in normal dimensions) Despicable Me boasts an impressive voice cast, a ploy first used with Robin Williams way back in the days of traditional days of animation with Aladdin, superbly executed slapstick and what I will call the sidekick factor. Whether cute or wisecracking, you would be hard-pressed to find a film in this medium that does not employ this tactic. Even so called "art-house" animated pictures like WALL-E follow the trend (in fact, that particular film contains two such supporting characters) and Despicable Me ups the ante and adopts thousands.

The villainous central character of Gru (voiced my Steve Carell) operates his evil lair with the aid of a multitude of adorable little yellow workers, and along with their "awwwee" factor, are the subject of a healthy portion of the aforementioned slapstick. Nestled in between the easy laughs however is ample heart and if you are prone to do so, you may very well shed a tear or two. This warmth is generated by three orphan girls, Margo, Edith and the doe-eyed Agnes, but perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself.

All Gru has ever wanted is to be accepted, and what better way to achieve that goal than by resorting to supervillainy. After a fresh- faced rival villain Vector (Jason Segel) outdoes Gru by stealing a pyramid from Egypt, he devises a plan to obtain a shrink-ray from a government testing facility and use that technology to shrink, and then steal the moon. Things do not go according to plan after Vector steals the shrink-ray right out of Gru's spindly clutches. What's a supervillain to do? Devise another plan of course, this time using the three aforementioned orphans to infiltrate Vector's lair by selling cookies. It's all very complicated in writing but works very well on screen.

Steve Carell does an admirable job in the lead voice role, and his Russian accent helps us to forget it is an A-list star nestled behind the animation. Russell Brand gives an unrecognizable performance as Dr. Nefario, the brains behind Gru's operation, and Kristen Wiig is hilarious as the head of the orphanage. The most disappointing is certainly the great Jason Segel whose underwritten character fails him as does his voice. Half of the allure of Segel is his physical presence and that is neutered in a voice-only role. While the physical humour will no doubt please the kids, there is perhaps even more for adults and if a movie is able to make me double over in the isle, then it must be doing something right. With Shrek Forever After being the one misstep for this medium, I look enthusiastically forward to the remainder of the year. What I know for certain is I (and the audience I joined) had an absolute blast with this flick, that is despicable in name only.

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DESPICABLE ME is not an animated feature. It is a flat-out feature-length cartoon, a rare bird in the field, and the first really successful one since THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE. If anything, it's better.

Animated features are typically fantasies, taking us to places and stories that cannot be filmed in live action. They can be dramatic, fantastic, inspirational, terrifying, all the range of emotions. Cartoons are different. Cartoons inhabit a universe that is a cross between Krazy Kat and the Keystone Kops. Walk off a cliff and you don't fall until you notice. Fall a thousand yards and hit the ground and you wheeze like an accordion until the next scene, when you're fine. Cartoons are silly.

And this one is very very silly, from Steve Carell's indecisively Eastern European-voiced Grue to Julie's Andrews who, as his mom, sounds like Beaky Buzzard's mother in Bugs Bunny shorts, to the seemingly indistinguishable minions who talk like Chip and Dale on helium -- Grue knows all their names. A modern supervillain has to have people skills.

The gags are all spot on in relevance and impeccably timed. The plot advances at a good clip and even the heartwarming aspects of the plot never descend into mawkishness -- the little girls whom Grue adopts to advance his plan to steal the Moon are endearing but frequently annoying.

I saw the 3-D version and the question arises, should you spend the extra money to see it in 3-D? I don't think so -- but then I am happy looking at stuff in black and white and even silent films. You may get a little more out of the 3-D version, particularly the credit extras. But that's up to you. See it in whatever form you like, but see it.

Despicable Me, the new animated from produced by Chris Melandandri, who also produced Ice Age: The Meltdown and Horton Hears A Who, is one of the summer's stand out movies. Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Miranda Cosgrove, and Russell Brand are perfect actors to lead this at times hilarious, at times tear jerking animated tale. Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Danny R. McBride, Julie Andrews and Jermain Clement make for a worthy supporting cast.

Gru (voiced by Carell) is a evil genius who only wants to win the affection of his cold-hearted mother (voiced by Andrews), something he has NEVER had. His only friends are Dr. Nefario, a aging scientist (voiced by Brand), and his army of minions (voiced by directors Peiere Coffin and Chris Reneud, and Jermain Clement), Twinky like creatures with both one and two eyes, it varies.

When a mysterious newcomer named Vector (voiced by Segal) steals the Great Pyrimid of Giza, Gru decides to pull off the greatest heist EVER: stealing the moon! Then, three orphan girls, Margo (voiced by Cosgrove), Edith, and Agnes (both voiced by newcomers who names I don't know.) The three of them don't hit it off with Gru instantly, but they see him as the first real parent they've ever had. Gru slowly begins to warm up to the girls, and they're interactions make for some truly heartfelt, and also hilarious moments. Case in point:

Edith: Are these beds old bombs? Gru: Yes. But, they are very old and highly unlikely to blow up. Try not to toss and turn.

Despicable Me pulls off something almost unheard of: a film that is enjoyable for both parents and children that does NOT involve humor centered around bodily functions, or violence.

Final grade: A Plus infinite number of times!