Consider me tickled I enjoyed Despicable Me more than Toy Story 3.

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 2010)

I know that many people are going to knock me around for this review, and I understand that, but I really throughly enjoyed the new animated film Despicable Me.
I see many films every year, including How To Train Your Dragon from my own studio, Dreamworks, which was an excellent film. Shrek 4, not so much. Then comes Toy Story 3, the latest adventure with Buzz and Woody. While it was great to see them back on the big screen, I wasn't as impressed with the third film as many critics and fans of the series were, and I feel that the inevitable fourth Toy Story film should go back to basics and focus on the central characters like Buzz and Woody again.
Which leads me to Despicable Me. Now, like most other people, the trailers really didn't interest me at all. It was only after my young daughter had heard from her classmates how great the film was to watch and how much that children had really enjoyed it.
So, I took my family to see this film, and man, I really enjoyed it! Steve Carrell's Gru is the first animated anti-hero that I really enjoyed watching. Where Toy Story 3 was filled with many mean spirited characters that actually frightened many small children (I heard many children screaming at times.) Despicable Me was definitely more light hearted. Was Despicable Me a better written movie than Toy Story 3? No. But was it more enjoyable? Yes, I would have to say so. I enjoyed the light hearted spirit of the film, rather than the dark tone of the latest Pixar film and the minons easily steal the film.
I can see Despicable Me become a series of animated hits for Universal and with great word of mouth spreading, I think that the filmmakers have made one winner of a great animated film. Despicable Me was far better than the last Shrek film, and more enjoyable than the latest Toy Story film for me and my family. I understand many will disagree with my review, and that's fine with me.