Beauty and Beast series: Despicable Me.

Rating: 8/10 (2 August 2010)

Well, recently I've seen two films that could sum up the basic Beauty and Beast plot. One of them is Universal studio's Despicable me, casting a lot of fancy names among the charming voices. The other one is called Suspect X, which was made in 2008. We can really have some insights into the difference between the Easterners and Westerners comparing these two movies. So here is my Beauty and Beast series.
Despicable Me has, in many ways, reminded me of the early Shirley Temple movies in 1930s. Though, you'd be surprised that even me, an oriental, have seen most of Temple's classics like "Littlest Rebel""The little Colonel". It's always the same formula--adults have been unhappy until they meet the magnificent Temple. Actually, the true magic comes from it was the process of transformation, that beasts can transform back to humans with love and lightheartedness. The Oriental movies, on the contrast, often feature this process in the other direction, that humans essentially become something else. Suspect X is one of the examples, and please feel free to refer to my review for that title.
My criticism for Despicable Me is only of the slightest, that the characters in this movie apparently have a blood tie with Tom and Jerry. Anyone in the movie, heroes or villains, practically cannot die even if they get smashed by moon. Also, stealing the moon is a somewhat romanticized act, a villainous master plan that's actually considered cute and silly. Therefore, it doesn't really sum up real criminals and their behaviors.
But, isn't that where this film shined? Isn't that a perfect way to illustrate to both adults and children that there's no point to be a champion in negative ways? The only other thing as silly as Gru's moon-stealing plan, was the bed book preserved so dearly by the 3 orphans. I can't agree more with Gru that it's story-less. Yet, the most heartfelt scene in the entire movie was exactly when Gru reluctantly reads it to put the trio to sleep. While he was performing the 3 little kittens' roles with his fingers, he actually discovered his own transformation, a transformation from the gritty, twisted Darth-Vader-wanna-be to 3 little orphans' real father. Love happens, even if love can only be expressed in the stupidest way. Isn't that exactly like how the God communicated with us? We are bound in time and space, and it seems our way of stupidity cannot be stopped, like all the killings, wars, etc. Our proud wisdom, utmost, is to make poems of the killings, wars, sex, so on so forth. Yet, our creator found a way to communicate his love to us. Suppose Gru still couldn't help thinking the book's stupid, he can never receive the message from this beautiful relationship. The tricky thing is, it's not the 3 little orphans who needed this message of love and inspiration, it's Gru who needed it the most. It took him some time to struggle, and then he finally accepted it. In the Bible, Jesus told us that if we don't return to children's form, we can't enter his kingdom of heaven. That reminded me not every villain is as lucky as Gru, so how should I know I possess a complete soul to love, or more importantly, how should I know I have love?
On his road to world-class villain, Gru made many mistakes to prevent him from being a real villain. Yet, he has done some wrong deeds if you count in his motivations. He mistreated people all around, attempted to feed the orphans like dogs, etc. Still, there seemed to be some kind of guardian angel on his shoulder who drags him from doing actual harms every time. It's a comedic nod that such a person as Gru is nice inside, just like the Beast in Beauty and Beast, that no matter how hard he tries; the real badness is just too bad for him. Plus for Gru, he practically slipped into the father role quite successfully in all the evil attempts. So, if we find out later that a mistake was actually a necessary one on our way to the right path, does it still count as a mistake? According to the Bible, we as sinners at our best can only be honest enough to admit our mistakes just like Gru's home-made bed book. Yet in God's hands, love can cover sins. Gru was taught to seek forgiveness and redemption, and the orphans were taught to forgive and accept. The salvation, the love is just completed in their relationship. I guess all the mistakes still count as mistakes, yet the girls chose to let go of their father's mistakes. It's beautiful.
Theoretically, we should be more physically capable to love as we grow up, but why do we feel more chills instead of warmth from love? When I was little, I listened to Beauty and Beast and believed. As I have grown up, I became more inclined to accept that "all people are of social products, and there's no intrinsic goodness in humans" (Popular idea since Kant and Marx). However, this idea, subtly comes from Gru's "3 little kittens" book, tells me that as we grow up our capability to be loved had drastically reduced. Gru needed a stupid bed book to return to child's form to be loved, and I needed another book considered stupid by many to return to child's form to be loved. That's the Bible.