Happy

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2018)

The charming story of an evil genius who attempts to get revenge on another evil genius by adopting 3 orphaned girls. Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) is the complete evil genius, he has the car, he has the killer pet monster, he has a scientist to make evil weaponry, and he even has henchmen (or minions) to do his bidding. When a young upstart of an evil genius gets one over on Gru and steals the shrink ray that Gru has his eye on, a dish of revenge is prepared. Adopting 3 orphaned girls to fulfil his plan Gru never expects that his life will change as much as it does.
This is a great film, a beautiful imagination of what animation and creativity can produce. Gru is the perfect Evil Villain, the kind of bad guy you'd expect to be facing off against a James Bond or Batman. Steve Carell voices him with such charm, making him seem awkward but at the same time confidently menacing when required. Other stars have lent their voices to this film to great effect - Jason Segel, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wigg, I would never have guessed without being told that Russell Brand voices Dr Lothario. The comedy and cute element of the film has to be the minions, they have clearly driven the film and have spawned their own movie and merchandise. Based on trailers, and against other animated films which try to make a cutesy/comedic element of the film the main driving force, it's nice to see that the minions didn't completely steal the show. You still have the film in its own right, with its own weight to drive the show forward - they just really compliment it.
I enjoyed this as an adult, and my 2 year old nephew enjoyed watching it too. It's a good family movie with enough adventure, action and humour to appeal to the entire family. I'd rate this as 8 out of 10 and could happily re-watch this anytime.