Movie Review of “Despicable Me”
The Jones Family Review of “Despicable Me”
Right in the center of a normal neighborhood, in normal suburbia, sits an odd house with a dried out lawn and large spires. Inside is the secret lair of an ambitious supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) and his army of mischievous minions.
Gru is wallowing in the shadow of a highly publicized heist completed by a competing supervillain named Vector (Jason Segal), so Gru attempts to raise his game.
Along the way, Gru crosses paths with three orphaned girls who view him not as a villain, not as cold or uncaring but most importantly, not as a failure. The orphans see Gru as their savior from the orphanage.
The three girls (Margo, Edith and Agnes) are the key to Gru’s transformation, his master plan and the overall plot of this Universal answer to “Shrek 4″ and “Toy Story 3″
Unfortunately, they are not in the same class.
First, there is no reason for this to be in 3-D as it offers nothing to improve the story. The animation as several flaws, dark shadows drag lines and poorly portrays the emotions of its characters compared to Pixar’s Woody and pals.
Second, this is a child’s film first and foremost. There are plenty of laughs, especially from the minions, but your kids are going to enjoy this film much more than you.
There are plenty of big names offering their voices: Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario, Julie Andrews as Gru’s Mom and Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly) is Margo. It was only Steve Carell’s Gru that stood out.
Sierra, age 11 said: “It was great to see a story from the villain’s point of view.”
My eight-year-old didn’t have a bad thing to say…”I liked all of it” and the 5-year-old from our group (not a Jones) loved it so much that she thought she could go see it again. The teenage son was much more critical of the animation and was moderate in his praise.
I concur.
“Despicable Me” is a good film, not a great one…even though it’s great to their target audience:10-year-olds and younger. There are a ton of great gags, funny lines, but the story is predictable and derivative lacking the depth and meatiness that audiences have found in the Pixar films. The trailers have ruined a couple of the better moments, which is always frustrating. Most important is that the parenting theme is inferior to great films like “Up” or “Finding Nemo”.
We give “Despicable Me”: 2½ out of 4 stars
@Robot:Atleast Carell appears to be “playing” a character instead of just playing it straight
My kids laugh at the minions in the commercial so we thought it looked good enough. Good review – thanks
“There are plenty of big names offering their voices:”
I find it really odd how many animated movies don’t have real voice actors. Instead going for live action actors doing their own voice.
I wasn’t miserable especially because their laughter brings me so much happiness. Of course, as I said, this is 95% for the kids 10 and under. Malcolm, I’ll have to call you next time.
Now I feel obligated to take the kids to see it Brandon. I wasn’t sure if we would see it in the theaters, as my wife Dee is sure that she wants no part of it (after watching the previews). But if you sat through it, then I guess I can do it as well. I should have went with you, after all misery loves company.
Malcolm