Despicable, With a Dose of Delightful

Rating: 5/10 (15 May 2015)

This is a tough one to rate and review. On the one hand, the rendering and quality of the CGI is up to the highest standards (animated films seem to be getting more beautiful with each year that passes); the minions provide the core comedy of the film, being cute and lovable idiots who at heart are really just immoral, child-like agents of chaos; and there are plenty of nods to sci-fi and horror that I found littered about the film.
But on the other hand, it seems tired. It doesn't feel like it's added anything new to animated films. Gone are the days of The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Aladdin, where our heroes aren't complete and utter idiots, but intelligent beings with flaws and emotions we can all connect with.
Although the minions are fun, I found this film to be another addition to the "Let's Dumb Down the Human Race and Little Kids with Silly Idiotic Secretively Violent Characters" sub-genre of the animated film industry, and the film industry at large. Villains and stupidity have become all the rage.
Despicable Me 2 was on my watch list, and I'm glad I gave it a whirl, but I'm hoping one day we get an animated film that brings the same emotional impact the classics used to bring to the table instead of the increasing Hollywood addiction to making stupidity and violence fun by hiding it within seemingly harmless characters in kids movies.