The Looney Tunes meets a Saturday Morning Cartoon

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2013)

Despicable Me is the first feature film for Illumination Entertainment and it was a hit in 2010, a popular film for families and has made the minions a very popular pop culture creation.
In a world of sci-fi and supervillains a new villain, Vector (Jason Segal) announces himself by stealing the Great Pyramid of Giza. Gru (Steve Carell), an older supervillain has had his thunder stolen and to reclaim his position as top dog by planning the biggest heist in history, by stealing the moon! But to do this Gru needs a shrink ray and he has formed a rivalry with Vector who steals it off Gru after he stole it from the Chinese. But Gru is not a villain who could be kept down for long and plans to steal the shrink ray by adopting three orphan girls, the sharp witted Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), the tomboyish Edith (Dana Gaier) and the innocent Agnes(Elsie Kate Fisher). Despite Gru's ambitions he slowly starts to warm to the girls.
Despicable Me is basically a cross between a Saturday morning cartoon and the Looney Tunes. The film has the design of a Saturday morning cartoon, the lair, the weapons, the design and the plot. Many of the designs of the vehicles and the weapons were overblown and felt like something a 10-year-old boy would create, and I am saying that as complement. There is a clear influence from Pixar's The Incredibles in its design and the music which borrows some Bond ques and basic set up and there are some parallels to Megamind (which was released in the same year) about a villain who finds his good side.
The style of humour is very physical and visual: there are plenty of slapstick humour, particularly involving the minions and their bickering and the experimentations on them. One great example is early on in the film is when Gru tries to break into Vector's home/lair which looked like it could have been a Looney Tune short. There are some verbal jokes and The Bank of Evil offers the only real cultural/political joke.
The script itself is screen writing 101, the structure is predictable and Gru is a typical character who a dream he thinks he wants (i.e. stealing the Moon) and what he really wants is a family. His dream during the film changes as he realises what is really important to him. The film does do a good job at setting up why going to the Moon is so important to Gru and it is more then just make a name for himself.
Like most animated films these days Despicable Me has a big name cast. Carell was solid as Gru, giving him an ambiguous Eastern European actor. He gave us a character who does changes during the film. Russell Brand was surprising good as Gru's scientist and friend, his voice was unrecognising and he was funny throughout. There are strong supporting characters played by Kristen Wigg and Will Arnett but Segal was a disappointment as he felt like he was just playing teenage Marshall from How I Met Your Mother. Also Julie Andrews' casting as Gru's mother was pointless seeing she was only in the film for three screens.
The girls were very well defied with the personality and felt more like real children in the context of this world. This is especially the case for Margo as she acts as the leader of the girls but still acts as a child when she is around Gru. But I would have thought Edith would want to take her hat off sometimes.
Despicable Me is a fun and enjoyable film for the whole family. There is plenty of slapstick humour and fun designs and whilst it is a simple affair it does not patronises children.
7.5/10