We, as a movie-watching community, tend to believe that if an animated film isn’t produced by Pixar or Dreamworks, that it’s bound to be awful. Most times, you’d be correct; anything that isn’t Shrek, How to Train your Dragon, or Toy Story seems to fall ill-fated to both commercial and critical torment.
Then a film like “Despicable Me” arises from the ashes of its fallen brethren and takes everyone aback. Produced by Universal (as you might be able to tell from the NBC logo popping up every few scenes) and NOT Pixar or Dreamworks, Despicable Me ends up being a fresh, funny and creative little title that will surprise most audiences.
Starring Steve Carrell as the “evil” protagonist, Gru, Despicable Me tells the story of the aforementioned hero/villain trying to outdo a competing villain named Vector. After Vector steals one of the Great Pyramids, Gru sets out to steal… well, what else? The moon, of course.
This isn’t enough of a plot, however. Three little girls, Margo, Edith and Agnes are thrown into the foray. Orphaned at a young age, they work for their house mother Ms. Hattie selling cookies door-to-door like girl scouts. Upon discovering that Vector has a extremely valuable and vital shrink ray in his fortress and that he loves “coconutties” cookies, Gru adopts the three little girls and plants tiny robots in Vector’s home as they sell him his favorite treat. Thus, you have two simultaneous, competing storylines contending with eachother for your attention. Do you care more about Gru’s success as the world’s most infamous villain or for the three little girls’ desire to be wanted in the world?
Both. You will care about both. At their centers, each plots revolves around the characters (Gru and the three girls) looking for acceptance in a world that hasn't been so kind to them up till this point. Both of these plots end up skimming each other throughout the film, but never really intertwine till about the third act. They’re well paced for the most part, but the girls enter Gru’s life in a heartbeat, exit in a heartbeat, then come back in… the same heartbeat. That loving relationship between Gru and the girls seems a bit rushed at parts, and this is mainly due to the dual storylines. Both of these plots are fairly linear and predictable for the most part… it’s all mushy cutesy kiddy fodder, but it’s still pretty funny and rarely resorts to the low-brow 5 year old humor that many, even “adult” films, seem to over-utilize.
The one truly redeeming quality of the film, however, is the group of characters, particularly Gru, Margo and Agnes. Gru, in fact, is just a fantastically made character, from his physical appearance to his psychology and mindset. He’s the lovable and equally hate-able(?) character. From the get-go, you’ll be rooting for him… and you won’t know why. An opening scene of his demonstrates his villainy as he shapes a dog out of a balloon and gives it to a child who just dropped his ice cream… then pops it and walks away unapologetically. For some reason, though, you just love him, similar to the way you might love a character like Jack Sparrow who is basically a greedy, selfish antihero who wins over your heart in the end. Then you have Agnes, the youngest of the three girls, who is lovable just for the sake of being lovable. She has big eyes and a silly demeanor, with an obsession with unicorns. If she doesn’t have you sold in the first half of the film, wait for the carnival scene where she eyes a gigantic, “fluffy” unicorn that she desperately wants. Agnes is the oldest (albeit, still relatively young) sister of the three orphans, and while she’s not particularly adorable or exciting, she keeps the other two in check. She’s a safety net for the emotionally unstable and young Agnes, and the calm, mature version of the usually rambunctious middle-child Edith.
Unfortunately, though, Gru is the only character who's given an inkling of a back-story. While there's no concrete reasoning for why he loves being "evil," he has a reason for trying to outdo himself and others repeatedly, and that's the lack of acceptance and pride from his mother; this is the main driving force for most of Gru's actions and his eventual love of the three orphans, other than typical family-movie formula. Nothing is said of the three little girls' past and why/how they're orphaned, Vector has no real motive behind anything he does except to appease daddy, and there's an almost useless twist about 3/4 of the way through that in no way alters the plot. There's also a lack of a father figure in Gru's life which... doesn't account for anything either.
What Despicable Me ultimately ends up lacking is depth. Everything about the movie is adorable, which may win you over in the short-run... but this isn't a film you're ever going to go out of your way to show to someone. No one will ever really say "Oh em gee you have to see Despicable Me, it's soooooo0o0o good!" With good reason, of course; as lovable as it is, it's purely forgettable. I've come across an article online stating that Illumination Entertainment is already working on a sequel. As much as I love Gru, the story doesn't need a sequel; rather, Gru needs his own, independent movie. Despicable Me is all sheen and no shimmer, you fall in love with the looks and not the personality. This isn't to say that it's an awful movie beneath its cuteness by any means, but this really could have been a heavy contender against any of Pixar's works had it developed a more deep back-story, less cosmetic focus and more focus on the smarter comedy than the slapstick. The Minions, Gru's numerous, short yellow henchmen, really steal the show here, for no other reason than their 3 Stooges-esque humor.
Despicable Me is beautifully animated and conceptualized, but the execution beyond that is just a tad bit flawed.
7.5/10
-Kyle Shelton
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