Despicable Me (2010)
Directed by Chris Renaud
Determined to prove he's the world's greatest supervillain, Gru hatches an audacious plan to steal the Moon. To pull it off, he adopts three orphaned girls—Margo, Edith, and Agnes—intending to use them as pawns in his scheme. But the unexpected bond they form forces him to question the criminal life he's always known.
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18 films that influenced Despicable Me
What critics say influenced Despicable Me
More annoying, Despicable Me borrows left and right from other, better animated/kids films, lifting ideas from The Grinch, Meet the Robinsons, The Incredibles, A Series of Unfortunate Events and Toy Story (the minions are nothing more than a carbon copy of the alien squeeze toys in that film).
Resembling the underground factory in Metropolis, it's manned by yellow, phallic, sometimes monocular humanoids not unlike the one-eyed blue B.O.B. in Monsters vs. Aliens, or the three-eyed Pizza Planet aliens from the Toy Story movies.
In truth, it’s not the best title from a marketing perspective, since it doesn’t tell you anything about the movie, certainly not in comparison to, say, “Toy Story,” “The Princess and the Frog” or “Finding Nemo.”
Small, yellow, capsule-shaped and coverall wearing, these minions scurry about doing all manner of work for Gru, whom they adore the same way the aliens in the "Toy Story" trilogy worship the all-powerful Claw.
More annoying, Despicable Me borrows left and right from other, better animated/kids films, lifting ideas from The Grinch, Meet the Robinsons, The Incredibles, A Series of Unfortunate Events and Toy Story (the minions are nothing more than a carbon copy of the alien squeeze toys in that film).
The world of Despicable Me is reminiscent of The Incredibles, where superheroes and supervillains participate in everyday life, raising their kids and keeping up their suburban homes just like ordinary mortals.
Despicable Me is already instantly inviting comparisons with Brad Bird's The Incredibles and has a chance to ingeniously invert loyalties over to the bad guy's point of view and purpose.
The 3D computer animation Despicable Me is comparable to Pixar’s 2004 The Incredibles, which was about superheros living everyday lives.
What with its surface similarities to The Incredibles and Monsters Inc., it’s easy to see the influence that the much-revered masters of the feature-length ‘toon had on this production.
Like “The Incredibles,” “Despicable Me” uses a mock-’60s-cartoon-hero score and saddles its protagonists with super-nuisances — such as a dismissive French mom (Julie Andrews).
As expected, there are a few gags littered around for grown-ups, notably an overt nod to The Godfather 's 'horse's head in a bed' scene and referencing the Bank of Evil - which finances nefarious supervillain deeds - as "formerly Lehman Brothers".
Some very amusing original set pieces — like an expedition to a department store by a trio of minions and a giddy amusement-park outing for Gru and the girls — fit well next to swift spoofs of Mission: Impossible and The Godfather.
To regain his standing, Gru plots to steal the moon—assuming the Bank of Evil will finance him (shades of Victor Spinetti in Help! (1965), who is “out to rule the world, if he can get a government grant”).
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Despicable Me may not match the stratospherically high standards set by Up and WALL-E but that hardly matters when it’s this much fun.
These human elements are significantly stronger than the inevitable climactic feud between Gru and Vector, full of flying and sky-set action that is reminiscent of?and done better in?2009's " Up " and 2010's " How to Train Your Dragon ."
By traipsing over into Up's territory where a surly man with a plan is forced into bonding with children, the shoes become even bigger to fill.
It would help if nobody saw The Incredibles, Up and Toy Story.
Borrowing liberally, plot wise, from “Up,” “Monsters, Inc.” and other Pixar animations, “Despicable Me” is a delightful, funny little movie that had me laughing frequently and loudly.
When James Stewart offers to lasso the moon for Donna Reed in Frank Capra’s classic It’s a Wonderful Life, it’s purely a romantic gesture.
With his bald pate, long nose and black tunic, Gru looks about halfway between Ernst Stavro Blofeld (the villain in several James Bond pics) and Danny DeVito’s Penguin from “Batman Returns,” and he’s more nefarious than either of them.
Some of the apparent homages are a little too familiar, like the evil bank exec modeled after Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss, or the youngest orphan, who seems to be Monsters, Inc.’s Boo, plus a year or so.
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More annoying, Despicable Me borrows left and right from other, better animated/kids films, lifting ideas from The Grinch, Meet the Robinsons, The Incredibles, A Series of Unfortunate Events and Toy Story (the minions are nothing more than a carbon copy of the alien squeeze toys in that film).
Gru, voiced by Steve Carell, is like a cross between Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies and "The Office" boss Michael Scott.
Carell, taking a page or two from Drs. Evil and Horrible (from "Austin Powers" and Joss Whedon's "Sing-Along Blog," respectively), affects an indeterminate Slavic accent to play Gru, but the expert timing is in full force as his character tries mightily to resist the parental tug his three young charges elicit.