Animated Movie Review: Despicable Me
This is a movie review of Despicable Me.
Plot Summary (courtesy of IMDB):
In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon. (Yes, the moon!) Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Movie Review:
Despicable Me was one of the most hyped movies of Summer 2010, with advertisements proliferating the net and television since at least early May (the movie was released July 9th). Because of all of this hype, as well as a significant amount of footage shown during this advertising campaign I was expecting that this movie was going to fall flat, especially with the recent success of well established franchises such as Toy Story and Shrek.
I was pleasantly proven wrong after only a few minutes into the film. A good deal of "footage" from this movie that was in the advertisements was in fact not in the movie, so it didn't have to rely on jokes which people already had seen hundreds of times. There were plenty of jokes to go around, ranging from the dark comedy of lead character Gru, to the slapstick comedy of the minions, to the cutesy-type comedy of the three little girls.
But this movie is not just a comic relief type flick. As with many other movies focused towards children it has a very heartwarming message about being a family and adoption.
Steve Carell, of The Office fame, plays the lead character Gru and would would not recognize his voice nor his normal comedic style in this movie. In fact, those changes are quite refreshing to see Mr. Carell do, as he has been caught in the same sort of comedy in the last few years because of his The Office character. Julie Andrews shows us once again her impressive acting range with another fine comedic performance as Gru's mother. Other popular comedians from SNL fame do a fine performance as well.
Overall I rate this movie as one of the best movies to see this summer so far. The movie has a definitive ending, which shouldn't leave much room for a sequel (although it has been done before), much like Wall-E, and I think that is a good thing. There are a great many instances in this movie which play towards the now popular 3D audiences, so if you get a chance to see it in 3D, do so.
Movie Review photo credit: Flickr.com
Overall Movie Review Rating: I rate this movie as a Must See - 4.5 stars
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