Movie: Despicable Me
Description:
Superbad. Superdad.
What a year it has been for animated films. So far in 2010 we have had three great films from three rival studios. DreamWorks kicked things off with the surprise sleeper hit How to Train Your Dragon and animation juggernaut Pixar countered with the hotly anticipated Toy Story 3. Now Universals Illumination Entertainment has released the audaciously titled Despicable Me and while it may be the "worst" of the trio, it is certainly the most purely entertaining.
The strengths of Despicable Me lie within veins commonly found in animated features, but his entry simply utilizes them extremely effectively. Along with jumping on the 3D bandwagon (my theatre was screening it in normal dimensions) Despicable Me boasts an impressive voice cast, a ploy first used with Robin Williams way back in the days of traditional days of animation with Aladdin, superbly executed slapstick and what I will call the sidekick factor. Whether cute or wisecracking, you would be hardpressed to find a film in this medium that does not employ this tactic. Even so called "arthouse" animated pictures like WALLE follow the trend (in fact, that particular film contains two such supporting characters) and Despicable Me ups the ante and adopts thousands.
The villainous central character of Gru (voiced my Steve Carell) operates his evil lair with the aid of a multitude of adorable little yellow workers, and along with their "awwwee" factor, are the subject of a healthy portion of the aforementioned slapstick. Nestled in between the easy laughs however is ample heart and if you are prone to do so, you may very well shed a tear or two. This warmth is generated by three orphan girls, Margo, Edith and the doeeyed Agnes, but perhaps Im getting ahead of myself.
All Gru has ever wanted is to be accepted, and what better way to achieve that goal than by resorting to supervillainy. After a fresh faced rival villain Vector (Jason Segel) outdoes Gru by stealing a pyramid from Egypt, he devises a plan to obtain a shrinkray from a government testing facility and use that technology to shrink, and then steal the moon. Things do not go according to plan after Vector steals the shrinkray right out of Grus spindly clutches. Whats a supervillain to do? Devise another plan of course, this time using the three aforementioned orphans to infiltrate Vectors lair by selling cookies. Its all very complicated in writing but works very well on screen.
Steve Carell does an admirable job in the lead voice role, and his Russian accent helps us to forget it is an Alist star nestled behind the animation. Russell Brand gives an unrecognizable performance as Dr. Nefario, the brains behind Grus operation, and Kristen Wiig is hilarious as the head of the orphanage. The most disappointing is certainly the great Jason Segel whose underwritten character fails him as does his voice. Half of the allure of Segel is his physical presence and that is neutered in a voiceonly role. While the physical humour will no doubt please the kids, there is perhaps even more for adults and if a movie is able to make me double over in the isle, then it must be doing something right. With Shrek Forever After being the one misstep for this medium, I look enthusiastically forward to the remainder of the year. What I know for certain is I (and the audience I joined) had an absolute blast with this flick, that is despicable in name only.
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Despicable Me combines parts of Pocahontas and Braveheart using a liberal dose of Room Marines into an epic complete that requires almost 3 total hours to unfold. We could criticise that length, the weak story as well as hammy dialogue. We could attack its thinly-veiled ecological message or even the frankly bizarre spirituality in its second 50 % but honestly practically nothing can spoil the encounter whereas you will be enveloped in it. Including a big portion of which is down into the brilliant use of 3D – that is both subtle and amazingly powerful. Til now, we are already producing films with 3D components, Avatar could be the primary definitely 3D movie and may well properly prove being only one about the most substantial items to come about to blockbuster film-making simply because Despicable Me.
Despicable Me combines parts of Pocahontas and Braveheart which includes a liberal dose of Room Marines into an epic entire that requires practically 3 total hours to unfold. We could criticise that length, the weak story plus the hammy dialogue. We could attack its thinly-veiled ecological message or even the frankly bizarre spirituality in its second 50 percent but honestly practically nothing can spoil the knowledge though that you are enveloped in it. As well as a significant component of that is certainly down into the brilliant use of 3D – which can be both subtle and exceptionally helpful. Til now, we happen to be generating films with 3D factors, Avatar would be the very first h onestly 3D movie and may nicely prove to work as a single for the most considerable issues to occur to blockbuster film-making as Despicable Me.