or: Another animated classic.
One word to sum it up: Super.
Why is it that animated movies are the best form of entertainment? I think it has something to do with the fact that adults are so hard to entertain, so the filmmakers try way too hard, with bad results; whereas children are easy to entertain, and it just comes so effortlessly...and bam! The whole family is entertained. But at the end of Despicable Me, I had to ask myself a question: why do I always find myself in tears and touched by these movies? Maybe that's because they're just happy films, which are truly a breath of fresh air from the other violent live action stuff we are seeing these days.
In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru (voiced by Steve Carrell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon. (Yes, the moon!) Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.
Despicable Me isn't the best animated film ever, and doesn't stand a chance against Toy Story 3 in winning the Oscar this year. However, it takes a very different turn: making the lead character a super villain. In which point, you may think, how could this movie possibly be so likeable, with a genuinely unlikeable lead? That's where the famous kid-movie moral comes in. And, as admittedly cheesy at it sounds on paper, the moral is as heartwarming as any other. Cynics need not apply here: this is a fun, fantastical ride that isn't anything short of entertaining.
Steve Carrell does some fantastic work at voicing Gru with an over the top accent, which sounds very evil indeed. It is hard to imagine the giant pointy nosed villain as a good father, and I guess that's what the beauty of it is. The girls he adopts are so sweet, and very funny--especially Agnes, who has an obsession with unicorns. However, what steals the show here is a large of group of small yellow creatures named the 'Minions'. Even though you can't understand a word they are saying, they are easily the funniest things about this movie, and definitely one of the highlights in cinema in the past year. As I said, Despicable Me certainly isn't the best animated movie out there, but it's entertaining nonetheless. It's perfect entertainment for the whole family though, with enough belly laughs from start to finish. Even though I'm not part of the films intended target audience, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel in 2013.
THE VERDICT: A film with a big heart and big ambitions, Despicable Me is a really entertaining family film that is both funny and touching.
8/10
