REVIEW: Despicable Me (2010)

Despicable Me

Rated: PG

Runtime: 95 minutes

Starring: Voice of: Steve Carell, Jason Segel.

My Rating: 3.5 stars.

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Despicable Me is a kid-friendly romp through the world of super villains. Now, the villains depicted in this film aren’t like the Joker or Lex Luther. They’re more like Mr. Magoo with an evil side.

Steve Carell lends his voice to the story’s loveable villain, Gru, for whom we seem to feel more pity than fear.

Gru is dethroned by Vector (voice of Jason Segel) as the world’s top super villain after Vector steals an Egyptian pyramid.

Gru plans to use a shrinkray gun to miniaturize the moon and hold it hostage for ransom, thus regaining is crown..

Problem is Vector stole the shrinkray gun and Gru has to break into his lair to get it. To do this, he has to adopt three girls from the local orphanage to help with his diabolical plan.

You can guess what happens, morally, to the world’s most-feared super villain.

Despicable Me is not the best animated film in theaters today. It is good, but lacks the depth and emotion and spends too much time trying to be silly than genuinely impacting the audience.

That said, the humor is there, especially from Gru’s minions – tiny yellow alien-like creatures that serve as his legion of builders. They struck me as twisted oompa loompas. They don’t say much, but they sing, dance and are generally quite ridiculous.

There’s even a scene where one drinks an anti-gravity potion and floats away — a clear homage to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Nevertheless, the minions steal the laughs.

Gru, meanwhile, spends the film torn between his evil duties and his newfound responsibilities as a parent to three adorable girls. They break us down with their extraordinary sweetness. They try to do the same to Gru.

Despicable Me is fun, and that’s about all you will remember about it. There just isn’t quite enough there to make it a high-impact animated film like a Toy Story or Wall-E. 3.5 stars.