"Despicable Me" has some bursts of brilliance and originality, but it is an overall undernourished film. Kids will like it, though

Rating: 5/10 (25 December 2010)

The magic of Pixar's movies (the "Toy Story" franchise, "Monsters Inc.", "Finding Nemo") is that they care. They really do. They care about film and they care about their audiences. They do not just assume that because their intentions are good that the movie will work. They make sure they work. And if Universal Pictures is to make their next animated film better the the near-wholly unsatisfying "Despicable Me," they are going to have to keep that in mind. This is a family entertainment picture with good intentions, splendid animation, some wit, and some genuine laughs. But when compared with the plethora of recent great animated family features, "Despicable Me" is a pretty heavy letdown.
Almost every adult in "Despicable Me" has a vague resemblance to an animal. Gru (voice of Steve Carrell) is a hunchbacked would-be villain with a face like a frog - if you'll excuse his elongated, pointy nose. His assistant is an old doctor hard on the hearing (voice of Russell Brand) who resembles an age-worn owl. He also has an army of jelly bean-like minions at his service. Anyway, whatever. Gru is jealous of another villain's feat and wants to commit the ultimate theft: stealing the moon. The plot thickens and Gru ends up adopting three little orphans in order to accomplish his task. But, as you'd expect, when a hardheaded curmudgeon takes little kids into his house, he starts to soften up.
I think the movie's death culminated, for me, with the arrival of the three little girls. Why was that? Because instead of being cute, funny, and lovable - instead of making me want to hug them - they came across as unctuous, irritable, and utterly devoid of depth. They are like the annoying little kids down the street whom I never socialized. I never learned anything about them except that they could drive me up the wall in a heartbeat and that I never wanted to learn anything more about them other than that fact. The girls are separated by a few years and the older they get, the more annoying they get.
But they are not the movie's only problem. Gru has his moments as a funny character (credit Steve Carrell's mastery of humor) and his interludes with the old-as-dirt doctor and his gullible little minions are (most of the time) very funny, they simply are neither frequent enough nor fresh enough. Apart from that, there is simply not an energetic enough story to keep interest. The movie whips along at a fast clocking time, but more like somebody racing to get out of the doctor's office, not racing an exciting marathon. Gru has nemeses which include another hack-villain with a fetish for guns and aquatic creatures and a jowled bank manager with a vague resemblance to Dilbert's pointy-haired boss. These subplots never go into or out of anywhere and potentially great jokes are wasted.
Now there *are* some hilarious individual moments in "Despicable Me." There are bursts of gut-busting humor. However, the unfortunate reason why it does not work is because the rest is really quite a bore. It's innocent, harmless, and will not affont anybody. And the kids will more than likely enjoy it. When the movie was released earlier this year, I dropped my sister and her friend off and went and saw Angelina Jolie in "Salt." In hindsight, having seen the movie at home, I commend my own decision. It just did not work for me. And I think there's a scene in the movie which parallels my exact reaction throughout most of the picture. The other hack-villain picks up his shotgun which shoots out squids (not kidding). He outlays his plan - a potential moment for humor - and the squid rolls his eyes.
"Puh-lease!" thought the squid. "Puh-lease!" thought me.