Despicable Me (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
Gru (voiced by Steve Carrell), a Russian criminal mastermind, is our wicked lead character in Universal Studio's animated film, 'Despicable Me' (directed by Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud). Gru, whose villainous career highlights include stealing the miniature Statue of Liberty in Vegas & the Time Square Jumbotron, has seen his status as #1 bad guy go down a few rungs when a younger upstart named Vector (Jason Segel) arrives on the scene by pilfering the Great Pyramid of Egypt! Furious, Gru descends below his black house (in the middle of a white picket fence neighborhood) to a secret chamber to consult with his scientist partner Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand, ha) to come up with a complex scheme: surrounded by a small army of minions, Gru plans to use freeze rays & shrink rays to extinguish anyone in his way, utilize cockamamie contraptions to build a rocket, fly to the moon ... and steal it!
Problems arise when Vector beats Gru to the punch, taking the shrinking ray instead, then hides it in a vault in his stronghold fortress. In order to get back the weapon, Gru comes up with a way to break-in: he adopts 3 little female orphans; Margo, Edith, & Agnes (Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Elsie Fisher) - & uses them as pawns to enter Vector's home to sell Girl Scout cookies {ha}. Some of those cookies are actually tiny robots that aid in Gru's own entrance. This whole use-the-orphans concept, however, proves to have a stronger affect on 'dad' (Gru) than he could have imagined; and the thought that he might actually grow to love them & prefer to attend their dance recital over rocketing into space to re-establish his despicable-ness is something he's not accustomed to.
Well, you know ... the storyline for 'Despicable Me' is preposterous. I don't dig 'preposterous'. I obviously don't mind witty dialogue (that adults can appreciate), or character development. But when a story turns preposterous, it creates a large uphill battle for me (to enjoy it). And the first 30-40 minutes of the movie really turned me off. It was mean, hectic, tried too hard, & just turned me off. An irritant. I don't like seeing terribly mean things being done in animated films - for fun. That isn't 'fun' for me, and I don't like the message it send out to kids. I also didn't find the animation to be as imaginative or smooth as other efforts, this year. The gadgetry/contraptions that are used in the story did not wow me in any way. I just found a lot of it to be 'old hat', so to speak.
Thankfully, when the film settles and goes away from the 'will Vector succeed in claiming the #1 villain slot from Gru' plotline - than I started to like what I was seeing & hearing. The voice acting is fine (gotta love the malice in Steve Carrell's voice when delivering his lines - and with a Russian accent, no less). I enjoyed Gru's pet dog (he's hysterical). I love how the 3 orphan girls transform Gru. I like seeing cold hearts melt - kinda like 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas'. I believe that children & adults appreciate that aspect most. 'Despicable Me' is not a great animated film because paying attention to it's ridiculous plot comes secondary to the staring at the animation & feeling the heartfelt sentiment. The best animated films combine it all. After the neat opening scene, the movie became too ill-mannered & frantic for my liking, but the sweet conclusion got to me; and I chuckled at Gru's disco dancing in the end. B-/2.5/4 star rating feels just about right.
Problems arise when Vector beats Gru to the punch, taking the shrinking ray instead, then hides it in a vault in his stronghold fortress. In order to get back the weapon, Gru comes up with a way to break-in: he adopts 3 little female orphans; Margo, Edith, & Agnes (Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Elsie Fisher) - & uses them as pawns to enter Vector's home to sell Girl Scout cookies {ha}. Some of those cookies are actually tiny robots that aid in Gru's own entrance. This whole use-the-orphans concept, however, proves to have a stronger affect on 'dad' (Gru) than he could have imagined; and the thought that he might actually grow to love them & prefer to attend their dance recital over rocketing into space to re-establish his despicable-ness is something he's not accustomed to.
Well, you know ... the storyline for 'Despicable Me' is preposterous. I don't dig 'preposterous'. I obviously don't mind witty dialogue (that adults can appreciate), or character development. But when a story turns preposterous, it creates a large uphill battle for me (to enjoy it). And the first 30-40 minutes of the movie really turned me off. It was mean, hectic, tried too hard, & just turned me off. An irritant. I don't like seeing terribly mean things being done in animated films - for fun. That isn't 'fun' for me, and I don't like the message it send out to kids. I also didn't find the animation to be as imaginative or smooth as other efforts, this year. The gadgetry/contraptions that are used in the story did not wow me in any way. I just found a lot of it to be 'old hat', so to speak.
Thankfully, when the film settles and goes away from the 'will Vector succeed in claiming the #1 villain slot from Gru' plotline - than I started to like what I was seeing & hearing. The voice acting is fine (gotta love the malice in Steve Carrell's voice when delivering his lines - and with a Russian accent, no less). I enjoyed Gru's pet dog (he's hysterical). I love how the 3 orphan girls transform Gru. I like seeing cold hearts melt - kinda like 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas'. I believe that children & adults appreciate that aspect most. 'Despicable Me' is not a great animated film because paying attention to it's ridiculous plot comes secondary to the staring at the animation & feeling the heartfelt sentiment. The best animated films combine it all. After the neat opening scene, the movie became too ill-mannered & frantic for my liking, but the sweet conclusion got to me; and I chuckled at Gru's disco dancing in the end. B-/2.5/4 star rating feels just about right.