Despicable Me

***Despicable Me*** is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film was directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin (in their feature directorial debuts) and produced by Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy, and John Cohen, from a screenplay written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, based on an original story by Sergio Pablos. The film stars the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett, and Julie Andrews. In the film, longtime supervillain Gru formulates a plan to steal the Moon. Meanwhile, he starts a family by adopting three orphan girls, and must decide where his commitments lie.

*Despicable Me* debuted at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 9, 2010, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 9. The film received positive reviews and earned $543.2 million worldwide, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2010; some film critics consider *Despicable Me* to be one of Disney's best animated films since the studio's renaissance era. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards and Annie Awards. The film's success led to two direct-to-video sequels—*Despicable Me 2* (2013) and *Despicable Me 3* (2017)— and a prequel released on the Disney+ streaming service, *Despicable Me: Gru's Origins* (2022), all produced by Disneytoon Studios.

## Plot

Longtime supervillain Gru is outdone by an unknown rival who stole the Great Pyramid of Giza. Gru, his elderly assistant Dr. Nefario, and his army of Minions formulate a plan to steal the Earth's Moon. Dr. Nefario worries that the plan will be too expensive, so Gru applies for a loan from Mr. Perkins, the director of the Bank of Evil, who orders Gru to steal a shrink ray first. While at the bank, Gru meets Perkins's son, Vector, a budding supervillain who was responsible for the Pyramid heist. Gru and two of his Minions steal the shrink ray from a research base, only for Vector to intercept them and obtain it for himself in relatiation to Gru freezing his head with one of his weapons.

After a series of failed attempts to steal back the shrink ray from Vector's fortress, Gru notices three orphan girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, being allowed into the fortress to sell cookies for Vector. Gru disguises himself as a dentist and adopts the girls; he later uses them to distract Vector long enough for him to steal back the shrink ray. Gru starts bonding with the girls after failing to abandon them at an amusement park. He later shows Mr. Perkins the shrink ray via video call just as the girls interrupt it, causing Mr. Perkins to refuse the loan. A heartbroken Gru tells the Minions that the bank ceased funding the project. The girls give him their piggy bank, and the Minions pool all of their resources to raise the funds needed for the project. Mr. Perkins informs Vector of Gru's possession of the shrink ray, prompting Vector to take action by kidnapping the girls.

Dr. Nefario calculates the day when the Moon is closest to Earth, but it is the same day as the girls' ballet recital. Believing the girls are becoming too much of a distraction to Gru, Dr. Nefario calls the orphanage's owner Miss Hattie to take the girls back. Gru successfully shrinks and steals the Moon. In hopes to make it to the recital on time, Gru rushes back to Earth, but finds that the recital has already ended and learns of Vector's plot.

Arriving at Vector's fortress, Gru surrenders the Moon to Vector, but he refuses to hand back the girls. Gru determines to exact vengeance on Vector for their abduction by storming the fortress. In panic, Vector activates his escape aircraft. Meanwhile, Dr. Nefario and the Minions discover that the shrink ray's effects are temporary: the bigger an object, the faster it reverts to its regular size. Gru, Dr. Nefario, and the Minions rescue the girls before the Moon returns to its normal size and launches itself into orbit, with Vector stranded on it. Gru reclaims custody of the girls and they celebrate with a special ballet recital that becomes a dance party.

## Cast

* Steve Carell as Gru, a longtime supervillain
* Jason Segel as Vector, an archrival of Gru who was responsible for the Great Pyramid of Giza heist
* Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario, Gru's elderly assistant
* Kristen Wiig as Miss Hattie, the orphanage's owner
* Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, one of Gru's adopted daughters
* Dana Gaier as Edith, one of Gru's adopted daughters
* Elsie Fisher as Agnes, one of Gru's adopted daughters
* Will Arnett as Mr. Perkins, the president of the Bank of Evil
* Julie Andrews as Gru's mom
* Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud and Jemaine Clement as the Minions, Gru's adorable and humorous henchmen

Additionally, other actors voice their roles in the film: Danny McBride as Fred McDade, Jack McBrayer as a carnival barker and a tourist dad, Mindy Kaling as a tourist mom, Rob Huebel as an anchorman, Ken Daurio as an Egyptian guard, and Ken Jeong as a talk-show host.

## Production

### Development and writing

To develop *Despicable Me*, Spanish animator Sergio Pablos pitched the idea about a main character having villainous attributes. In early 2007, Pablos brought his draft to John Lasseter, who was promoted to chief creative officer of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios and Chris Meledandri, who was hired by Disney upon leaving Fox Television Animation; screenwriters Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio began reworking the script. Soon after Meledandri brought together Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud to direct. In November 2008, Disney announced the beginning of development on *Despicable Me*. The film was fully animated at the French studio Disney Mac Guff, which was the animation department of Mac Guff (which animated *Horton Hears a Who!* (2008)), acquired by Disney in the summer of 2009.

The language spoken by the Minions was invented by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, the directors of the film. The language is sometimes nicknamed "Minionese".

### Animation

Coffin, Renaud, and character designer Eric Guillon were responsible for creating the Minions. They did not exist in the original script until their addition during *Despicable Me*'s production. Initial designs for the Minions were humans and robots, before finalizing their appearances to small, yellow pill-shaped creatures. Renaud described the Minions as out of focus and "not very smart". The characters took inspiration from Oompa-Loompas in *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory* (1971) and Jawas in the *Star Wars* franchise, as well as Disney's own recurring Siamese cat henchmen characters Tin, Pan and Alley.

### Music

The soundtrack of the film was released on July 6, 2010. It features new songs from the film written and performed by Pharrell Williams and performances by Destinee & Paris, the Sylvers, Robin Thicke, and the Bee Gees.