Despicable Me

 

Animated films always seem to fit into two different camps; either they are awful cash cows (A Shark’s Tale, Shrek 3) or they are true labours of love (Toy Story 3, Shrek). It has become a rare find to watch an animated children’s film that takes the middle road, but ‘Despicable Me’ is it. Not revolutionary, but not something that has been quickly made to fill a gap in schedules.

‘Despicable Me’, like Pixar’s ‘The Incredibles’, is set in a comic-book like setting where villains exist, but strangely there was no caped crusader or masked vigilante in sight. In fact being a villain is it’s own profession with paid minions and a Bank of Evil to get loans from. Gru, voiced by Steve Carrell, is not the sort of villain that you would send Jack Bauer after; styled like a French cartoon character his most evil acts seem to be stealing monuments from Vegas or bursting children’s balloons. Saying this his big plot of the century is to steal the moon and then sell it back for fame and fortune and to help him with this he has the great inventor, cockneyDr Nefario, expertly voicedy Russell Brand. And of course he also has his army of yellow, worm like minions. These numeroud minions remind me of the game Lemmings – they act as very effective comic relief. With all the ‘Looney Tune’ like physical gags as well as cute voice work and costumes the minions are easily the second best part of the film, with the greatest part being the orphans Margo, Edith and Agnes. These 3 girls provide the heart of the film, as they are all so sweet together with Gru that they create the warmest moments that will melt your heart.

Outside of this, Gru-orphans dynamic the film ends up being pretty ‘run-of-the-mill’, which makes it rather dull at times. The supporting cast of Jason Segel and Julie Andrews were very good, but the story and script was just not complex nor mature enough. You may accuse me of being harsh given that this is a kids’ film, but many great movies for children have worked around this and managed to entertain both adults and children equally. There are a quite a lot of chuckles with some generally laugh out loud moments.  The 3D was also used exceptionally well. In fact it might have been the best use of 3D I have seen yet(apologies to James Cameron) but even with all this the whole production felt very middle ground. There was no new way of looking at the genre or the story or the characters. Maybe if it had come out 10 or so years ago it would have seemed slightly more original and impressive, but unfortunately with all the high caliber animation movie goers see at the moment, being adequate just isn’t good enough. That is not to say you should give this film a miss, you certainly should go and see it, but don’t expect too much from it. You will leave the cinema smiling, but will also forget the film as soon as that smile fades.

Degree: 2:2- a film with a lot of heart, if not much else, but worth seeing just for that.

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Lock up your daughters; here come the bad boys

In the space of a few months two big animation studios are releasing films which centre around super villains; ‘Despicable Me’ by Universal and ‘Megamind’ by Dreamworks. The films’ close realise dates have the old comedy team of Will Ferrel (Megamind) and Steve Carell (Gru) put against each other for the role of ultimate evil genius, but who will take over the world box office? Both these films look like they will have a great new take on the timeless hero Vs villain dynamic that everyone knows.

Gru (Carell) is an evil genius, but it doesn’t seem like he is a very good one. However he does have a heart which shows when he adopts three orphaned girls.The film will follow Gru as he gets to grips with this family and responsibilities as well as also trying to pull off his biggest heist-stealing the moon. The film is going to be released in the UK on October 15th 2010.

‘Megamind’ has a start that harks back to the origins of Superman, with two children from neighbouring planets being sent away from their homes just before their destruction and both landing on Earth, though in very different circumstances. One is brought up in a loving home and will become the hero Metro Man while the other is brought up in a prison and will become the villain Megamind. With the emergence of a new villain, Tighten, the roles are reversed and Megamind is given the chance to be a hero, while Metro Man hides away in retirement. This film is out December 3rd 2010.