Despicable Me

Back in 2010, it was obvious that other animation studios were beginning to understand why Pixar succeeded at the box office because we got to see a few non-Pixar animated films with heart. Previously, the focus of non-Pixar films tended to be on humor or the cast. The year 2010 saw the releases of “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” and “How to Train Your Dragon”, both of which touched our hearts and made us laugh. They were perfect to compete with Pixar but the mammoth success of "Toy Story 3" was something no one expected. “Despicable Me” also had a lot of heart and considering this was the first CGI film from Illumination Entertainment, they did a good job. The film does have some flaws and the movie would have been more successful if released a few years later but the touching story is what saved it. What I am finding recently is that "Despicable Me" gets better after each viewing and that is the true definition of cinematic success. The animation and design was quite noteworthy too. The show won't disappoint in 3D but 2D is just as great.

I am a Pixar fan first &foremost and the reason why is that they can perfectly balance humour with heart. We laugh hard & we cry a lot, especially with “WALLE”, “Up” and the aforementioned “Toy Story 3”. “Despicable Me” had an awesome center: three lonely girls who want a home are able to change the heart of a selfish dreamer. The scene where the girls were praying told me that this movie was not just about making money. The problem is that “Despicable Me” did not tickle my funny bone as much as it touched my heart the first time I saw it. Don't get me wrong: I did laugh but the balance was off a little. I felt like crying a few times but without the needed contrast, the touching moments were not as powerful as they could have been. “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” had a slightly better balance as the movie was really funny, which made us root for Flint even more. “Despicable Me” also had a few story problems such as with Gru. Our main character has hopes and dreams, which are very important for story purposes, but they don’t match his persona. We see flashbacks that create empathy for Gru, but it is a little hard to believe that he became a super villain to achieve his dreams. At least the filmmakers made all of his evil acts in his intro humorous. Gru does things we wish we could do like skipping the line and damaging other cars to get a parking spot. Also, the things he stole aren't all that big. When I first saw the movie, I felt that Gru’s design did not match the voice that Steve Carell came up with. I have liked his performance from the start but now that time has passed, I can't imagine another voice for Gru and this is proof that the passage of time determines a lot of things. Carell was the voice of Mayor Ned from “Horton Hears a Who” and that match between vocal performance and character design was nice from the start. Over time thankfully, Gru has grown on me. Nefario is a character in the film that does not work perfectly even after a few times watching the movie. He seems too one-dimensional and his presence in the film is almost unneeded. There were other ways to keep Gru on track with his plan. Vector is not a good character at all. He is not funny and not a credible challange to Gru. He bugged me. The failure on these two character on screen may be due to the casting. Jason Segel and Russell Brand are funny actors but do not come to mind at all when you think of Vector or Nefario respectively. Steve Carrell as Gru grows on you because his character undergoes a change. However, once Gru gets into space, his dream has come true but that is not played as dramatically as it could have been. "Independence Day" did it better with the character of Steve and that was a minor subplot in that film. There were climax problems in that Gru’s break-in to Vector’s lair to save the girls seemed a little too easy albeit admirable. After rescuing the girls, they all could have helped get the moon back in place before it was too late and this would have extended the climax and provided more action. Everything seemed to end quickly and with very little effort on the part of our heroes. The good thing about the climax was the subtext of Gru getting the girls back. That was dramatic.

Now that I have finished with the negative criticism, I would like to point out some unfortunate circumstances with this movie. I feel that if “Despicable Me” would have been released a few years later, it would have done a lot better in touching the audiences’ hearts. It regrettably has similarities to “Up”, which was released the year before. In both films, we have adults that are being annoyed by children and the adults grow to love & care for the kids. Just like in “Up”, the children first arrive at the door of the main character asking for something. With how powerful “Up” was, this film couldn't compete but time has created a mental separation between the two films that "Despicable Me" needed. Another unfortunate consequence from this movie is that the Minions have become overrated. I like the characters because they serve their purpose but I don't see what is so special about them. What bothers me even more is that their pathetic cash-grab of a spinoff film in 2015 became the second highest-grossing animated film of all time.

"Despicable Me" did some things perfectly. I love Gru's catch phrase: "Lightbulb". It is original and universally understood (no pun intended). The orphanage and the girls’ life before Gru adopts them are effectively portrayed as heartrending while remaining funny at the same time. The girls are also well designed in that they are different from one another and are adorable. Their animation is also great. The scene where they pray illustrates all of these points. Agnes' line "He's so fluffy I'm gonna die" is the best in the whole movie because of the performance. It was obvious back then that this was Elsie Fisher's first movie as the voice of Agnes. I feel that using non-actor kids as voices in an animated film is a good decision as Pixar director Pete Doctor knows all to well. Throughout the film, we have touching moments as Gru and the girls begin to bond such as at the amusement park or when Gru needs money. One really great scene is when Gru reads the kitten bedtime story. It had me laughing because Gru is so critical but the scene touched my heart at the same time. I was hoping that Margo at the end would call Gru “Dad” for resolution purposes but this did not happen. Fortunately, we did get an equally important moment when she hugs him and says, “I love you”. The film had heart and that makes it quite a good movie. It is better after multiple viewings. By the way, Illumination Entertainment does foreshadow their future films after the manner of Pixar in that Margo is wearing a Lorax t-shirt. The two screenwriters of this movie, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, are members of my church so that makes me happy for their success. The difference between a good and a great movie is a balance of humour and heart. “Despicable Me” has laughs but they weren't as funny as was required. I didn't know if a sequel was going to be a good idea because I would rather studios look at original ideas but I was wrong in my assumptions.

4 Stars