A Different Approach Than Pixar

Rating: 6/10 (10 March 2017)

After pretty much working my way through all the Disney/Pixar animated films, "Despicable Me" was my first venture into Universal territory. The filmmaking styles are most definitely different, although I would argue that Pixar still holds a big edge.
For a basic plot summary, "Despicable Me" tells the story of Dr. Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), a supervillian trying to stay on top of the supervillian world. While dueling with the young, up-and- coming supervillians, Dr. Gru gets involved with a trio of orphan girls who eventually lend him some basic humanity.
Clearly, Universal utilizes a completely different formula than Pixar. Here, the animation is a little goofier and the action almost never ceases. A bit of emotion is still injected into the film, but nowhere near Pixar levels. In this case, the never-ending action gets a bit tiresome and the emotion is actually a bit too little, too late.
Overall, however, "Despicable Me" will entertain all children with its fast pace, quirky humor, and abundance of sight gags. For folks any older, though, it just doesn't measure up to the Pixar stable of emotional depth and all-ages humor.