Highly enjoyable animated fun!...

Rating: 8/10 (18 October 2011)

I seem to remember this getting a fairly patchy response from the critics when it came out probably all that 3D nonsense. Fortunately I managed to avoid all that by waiting for it to appear on TV in the correct number of dimensions for the screen. As for the film, well I really enjoyed it! Likable characters, a nice plot and some great comic moments who could ask for more!? I'll give you further thoughts after this brief summary.
Gru is a villain, he's been a villain for a long time, but now his evil deeds are being superseded by much younger up-and-coming villains. He's not happy, even his mother finds him a bit of a disappointment, but he has a plan. It's a very cunning and dastardly plan, but he'll need to steal a shrink ray gun and borrow some money from the bank first. He steals the ray, but it's stolen from him by a young upstart villain called Vector. Gru tries to retrieve it but cannot gain entry to his compound. Seeing three orphan girls get in by selling cookies, Gru forms another plan. He goes to Miss Hattie's Orphanage and adopts the three girls; Margo, Edith and Agnes. His plan: to get them into the compound so he can plant something there that will allow him to gain access to the ray gun. His many minions and Dr. Nefario help him with this clever scheme and it is a success but the girls have other ideas about Gru and, it seems, they just might be turning him away from his ultimate goal To steal the ****! Oops, hope I didn't say too much there Sorry Spoiler Police I, I'll come quietly.
As I've already said, I enjoyed this film very much, it must me my kind of humour or something, but there were far more 'laugh out loud' moments (for me) than usual. The animation was very well done, I'd go so far as to say it was almost up to Pixar standard. I loved Steve Carell as the voice of Gru, his Russian accent was hilarious. Also worthy of note were the voice talents of; Jason Segel as Vector, Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario, Julie Andrews as Gru's Mom, Will Arnett as Mr, Perkins, Kristen Wiig as Miss Hattie, Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, Dana Gaier as Edith and Elsie Fisher as Agnes.
One of the things I like to write about when reviewing a film is how it makes me feel. Well, this film did pull at the heartstrings a little, but much more than that it made me laugh. It's definitely one I will re-visit at some point because I'm sure there are many subtle little jokes I missed first time around. Whether you're young or slightly older (like me), I'm sure you'll get some laughs out of this one It's not perfect, but I very much enjoyed it nonetheless Recommended.
My Score: 8.4/10.
IMDb Score: 7.5/10 (based on 68,835 votes at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81/100 (based on 187 reviews counted at the time of going to press).