Sets a mark amongst the 'Animated Greats'

Rating: 8/10 (4 May 2011)

Likable super villain Gru (Carell) aims to achieve the greatest crime of all time with the help of his elder associate Dr Nefario (Brand) and his yellow mini minions. Only trouble is that he has to deal with the movie's antagonist Vector (Segal) who is also the son of the obese bank manager, whom Gru needs to borrow money from in order to commit this crime. To do this he pretends to adopt three cookie selling orphan girls to get access into Vectors weapon coated house and steal the ultimate shrink ray weapon. But when the children are fooled into thinking that he has adopted them out of love, Gru has to choose between world conquer and parenthood.
After a year of Pixar and DreamWorks going head to head and giving the audience two memorable films involving Toys and Dragon slaying, both with immense budgets, Directors Coffin and Renaud invite the audience, kids and adults alike, into an hour and a half of fun with every character taking their own persona's and fitting into real life situations alongside fictitious creatures (notably the minions). Working on a fraction of the budget, Despicable Me focuses on offering a robust script (thank you Ken Dario) to entice the kids to its well-constructed jokes and adults to its well- assembled character establishing.
When we first see Gru causing destruction as "Despicable Me" is bellowed in the background, his villainous ways, although characteristic, are made to be funny and Carell perfects the voice-over to create what I think is the most likable animated character of the year.
The film distinctively fills itself with all kinds of gadgets, as Gru pollutes the air in his futuristic juggernaut tank with an attached rocket ship exhaust. His minions are always hard at work creating ultimate gadgets (something for the male audience to admire). His workaholic lifestyle explains his unloving persona and he has no friends other than his yellow aliens and Nafario, voiced unrecognisably by Brand.
Everything changes once Gru adopts three orphans – the doubtful Margo, pink clothed tomboy Edith and baby Agnes with her mad love for unicorns and determination to be adorable. Aside from selling cookies, the orphans practise for their performance of Swan Lake (more Barbie and less Black Swan). As the countdown begins for Gru to undertake the ultimate crime, his days start to merge when the orphans begin to take over his life, including tea parties and kittens. During all these happenings, Vector plans world domination whilst stuffing popcorn and playing on a "very futuristic" Wii.
The yellow minions (don't worry I haven't forgotten about them) constantly remind me of the green aliens in Toy Story and sound like Bevis and Butt-Head stuffed with helium. Their language, although with very little English, is made easy to understand through their actions. Though the creatures were used primarily to promote the film, I couldn't help but think they were put in the background of the main storyline when so much work and fun had been put into creating their unique looks (one eye, fat, tall etc). The idea of a minion being snapped and turned into a glow stick was ingenious. As was the shopping scene where three minions unconvincingly disguised themselves as humans. From what I did see of them they were cute and funny throughout, especially the way they bobbed around as if they were taken from LittleBigPlanet.
Though it lacks in being a first class CGI film, it makes up for it in the character development. The three girls offer a kind hearted aspect to the movie as a whole, especially the younger Agnes who got me laughing out loud with her childish jokes. As animations are renowned for the greatest 3D effects, I expected nothing different from this. However Despicable Me knew how to use them wisely, not in the sense of having something poke at you in your seat, but making you feel like the film surrounds you. It really felt as though the minions were floating around the cinema. The highlight moment of the film had to be riding on the roller coaster as it really felt as if the cinema was riding it too. I had to withdraw myself from saying anything rude as I was surrounded by little kids. Word of warning don't start sipping any drinks or snacking on some popcorn the moment Gru enters the carriage.
I thought Vector could have been less 'cheesy couch potato' and more of a 'gadget building Emperor Zurg'. The good guys had plenty of laughs but Vector made the laughs fade. Like Carell, Segel is hilarious in his films but if you are going to make him a villain then you have to make him serious and not try to be funny. I also thought more could have been made out of Vector's dad (possibility for a sequel plot?)
As a directorial debut for both Directors', this film gave both Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon some powerful punches and earned its Bafta nomination, though unfortunately just losing out to Toy Story. This is a movie that will really get both kids and adults in stitches and some sobs. It ticks all the boxes that a top animation film needs (likable characters – check, jokes that make you laugh – check, suitable for all the family – double check). Like other animations this one too has a powerful message undermining the cruel behaviour of Gru.
Watch this film with open thoughts. I have picked out some negatives of the film, but don't get me wrong as I really enjoyed it. I may have given it 7/10 if I was a bit younger and did not seem out of place in the cinema. But a boosted smile was on everyone's face by the end, even if the credits dance is slightly cheesy.