Average movie with some standout moments

Rating: 5/10 (29 September 2013)

I understand this is a kids movie and is made for that demographic but if a kids movie is good, it can be enjoyed by all the family. This movie is over hyped and is not as good as many people seem to claim.
------------------ Plot Spoilers Ahead ----------------- Proceed At Your Own Risk ---------------
The story is about a villain called Gru. Carell's performance lacked much emotion. I realise the character is meant to be emotionless but it felt like he stayed emotionless throughout the whole movie when he is supposed to grow to be more loving and caring. Gru takes in 3 children to help with his plan. The smallest of the 3, Agnis, is the funniest due to her childishness and ignorance to what is happening. She is one character the smaller children who watch this movie can relate to.
The standout characters, however, are the minions. Any scene with them in will have you in stitches. If they were not in this film, I would be rating it a 3/10.
The second thing that saves this movie from being below average is the animation. The animation is beautiful and fluid as I expected. They made the characters almost seem toy-like with them being almost shiny and so smooth. This is good as it keeps the movie very child-friendly but can also hinder it as you do not feel as emotionally attached to the characters in some scenes.
In conclusion, I expected better from this film but I am not unhappy I saw it. Some scenes are genuinely hilarious but these scenes are too few and far between for me to readily recommend it. I just think they could have done better. After seeing the sequel I KNOW they could do better.