Images Courtesy/Universal
“Despicable Me” is the story of Gru (voiced by Steve Carrell), a super villain who has big dreams. All of his heists before this have been chump change. His next plan is to steal the rarest thing of all: the moon.
Along to help is his army of miniscule minions, who resemble nothing more than sentient Twinkies in overalls and goggles, and Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), his aged inventor assistant.
In a twist on the classic villain’s lair, Gru lives in the suburbs, but that does not stop him from having an immense underground facility, cool rocket-powered land and air vehicles.
Despite having no money and relevancy issues with newer, hipper super villain Vector (Jason Segel), Gru devises the perfect plan to nab the moon. All he has to do is shrink it down and simply take it from the sky.
To do that, he needs to re-steal the shrink ray that Vector stole from him. The only way he can do that is by using three orphaned girls to get inside Vector’s base for him.
It is not too terribly hard to see where the movie is going.
The girls see Gru not as a super villain, but as a father figure, he eventually returns their feelings, and so on and so forth. “Despicable Me” is not breaking new ground by any means here but that is perfectly all right.
Indeed, cuteness is the order of the day here, more so when the three girls arrive. There is Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), the eldest; Edith (Dana Gaier), the middle child; and Agnes (Elsie Fisher), who absolutely steals the show as the cute-as-a-button youngest child with an obsessive addiction to unicorns.
The same kind of cheeky humor that appeals to both kids and adults is in abundance here, and thanks to a few especially “grown-up” jokes – such as one about a particular “evil” financial institution – the movie is successful. As Vector kidnaps the children, he shouts something that could either be heard as “Unpredictable!” or better yet, “I’m predictable!” – a self-referential shout-out that is just hilarious.
The movie is not without its problems.
While the flick does have some erroneous ideas about adoption (one cannot simply give children back so easily when things do not work out), it all works out for the best in the end, as it should.
The movie was shown in 3D, which is a nice touch but totally unnecessary. “Despicable Me” is not a movie that requires viewing in the third dimension.
Regardless, kids and adults alike will love “Despicable Me.” It is a fine debut film and it bodes well for Illumination Entertainment’s future films. One can only hope that they are all this cheeky and full of heart.