Despicable Me

I'd seen a few trailers and posters for this animation and was looking forward to watching it, mainly due to the funny-looking yellow dudes in the posters. The show proved to be worth watching beyond those little guys alone.

Spoiler-heavy review ahead...







Sadly, I missed the opening scenes of the movie because I was late to the cinema. I understand it included the theft of a pyramid. The protagonist (sorta) of the movie is a master criminal known as Gru (Steve Carell), or at least he likes to think of himself as a master criminal. He didn't steal the pyramid, but he wishes he had. Seeking his mother's (Julie Andrews) approval his whole life, Gru concocts a plan to STEAL THE MOON. With a plan in place, all he needs is funding from The Bank of Evil (formerly Lehman Brothers) to realise his plans. In the waiting room of the bank, he meets a nerdy criminal called Vector (Jason Segel) who tries to befriend Gru much to his annoyance. The bank manager, Mr. Perkins (Will Arnett) - who looks suspiciously like the PHB from Dilbert - agrees to continue funding him if manages to get the shrink ray gun essential to his plan to shrink the moon before stealing it. Perkins warns Gru that this is his last chance before the bank starts investing in younger criminal minds like Vector who was the one behind the pyramid theft. On the way out, Gru uses his freeze-ray gun to freeze Vector's head... just because.

With the help of the Minions (really, that's what they're called), Gru successfully locates and steals the shrink-ray gun from a Secret Lab in East Asia (we do like tiny things). Unfortunately it's stolen right back from him by Vector who is a little bitter about having his head frozen. Gru attempts in vain to gain entry into Vector's fortress to obtain the shrink ray. He's about to give up when he spots three little orphan girls selling cookies who easily gain access to the fortress (Vector can't resist coconutties).

Gru decides to adopt the girls in order to use them to smuggle cookie-robots (cute) to get the shrink-ray gun. The plan succeeds, although not without a few problems. An amusement park offers Gru the opportunity to abandon the girls so he can get on with his plan. However, as movie convention dictates, Gru bonds with the girls and he grows attached to them. He keeps them on for the time being while he and his resident mad scientist, Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) work on the rocket to bring Gru to the moon.

Dr. Nefario soon finds that the girls are distracting Gru from their plan and arranges to have them returned to the orphanage, breaking his and their hearts. Gru presses on with his plans and succeeds in shrinking and grabbing the moon, despite Vector's attempts to stop him. Going back to Earth to try to make it to the girls' ballet recital, Gru finds out that Vector has kidnapped the girls and wants the moon as ransom. Gru of course agrees, but Vector goes back on his word to return the girls, setting off a daring rescue by Gru. It goes without saying that everything ends well for Gru and the girls.

The movie seems quite derivative of Pixar movies with likeable and cute characters (one of the girls closely resembles Boo from Monsters Inc). Considering it as a homage rather than a copy, this movie executes the familiar formula well and was very enjoyable. It has heart and more than a few laughs. Carell gives a funny performance with a Russian-ish accent. The 3D effects are fully exploited and even includes some in-credits messing around with the 3D effects by the Minions (who are really cute and speak their own pseudo-language).

This show was produced by a company called Illumination Entertainment (apparently their first). It's rare these days to see a good CGI animation not from Pixar or Dreamworks. It's good to know that some smaller players are still in the game and producing good stuff. With this and the recent shows from the big two, the future of CGI animation is looking bright.