irresistibly cute and clever on a silly cartoon level and a few dark edges, no more no less

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2010)

Sometimes a movie can just aim to be adorable fun, and Despicable Me is nothing else if not that. The film features a hook-nosed villain named Gru who has a bunch of little yellow pill-shaped minions all with one eye and speak gibberish and who adopts a few cute little orphans so he can infiltrate the lair of a nerdy would-be villain named Victor (or "Vector" as he tries to call himself), and who ultimately loves the little rascally girls who just want the big guy to take care of them. It's like a fluffy little dark comedy, if that can possibly be combined, where the movies doesn't lose its edge entirely, but over the course of the story it gets fluffier, a little more heartfelt. But, thankfully, it's always funny.
Maybe it's funny in that silly old-style cartoon way where we see characters who are no good doing crazy things like trying to scale the walls of other no-goodniks. Or, as it really is, it's like one of those cartoons on the Cartoon Network only extended feature-length (think, perhaps, Dexter's Laboratory, which had a character wanting nothing but to be an evil mad-scientist and usually did pretty poorly at it; Gru as Dexter's bald uncle). Others out there may also think back to Lemony Snickett, which also featured a curmudgeon who becomes the ward of some kids and the kids start to get the better of him. This isn't Lemony Snicket, however, nor exactly Dexter's Lab or other cartoons. It's entirely familiar, but its original in its details.
The movie is aimed at children for a large part, but it also has a lot of jokes and just a general attitude at times for the adults. Gru early on is a Grinch-like character (there's an obvious connection to Seuss stories, a Lorax t-shirt seen included), and has a lot of mean-spirited quips at people or little tricks like a freeze-gun that are just delightful to watch. It's fun to see a character be as bad as he wants to be, and at the same time isn't very good at it - and, too, neither is his exercise-suit wearing nemesis, Victor. But it's pretty clear once those little yellow minions come into the fore-front, as do those little girls (especially the really small one with the love for her unicorn and bedtime stories about kittens) that it's a cute-fest. You want to hug this movie once you give in to it.
And whether or not you give in to it will probably determine how much you respond to it. It's a treat for kids, who will want the high- spirited comedy and the progression of the story of Gru becoming more and more likable (unlike the total grime of Lemony Snickett's character). For adults, the story will be familiar, especially if one's taken their kids to see something like it recently. Everything is done in good fun, and even the ending with its Bee Gees music playing during a dance recital is meant to give everyone a big smile. It's a minor treat following Toy Story 3, and a welcome respite from the likes of The Last Airbender as entertainments for the "family" this summer. Oh, and Steve Carrell is great by the way as Gru.