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Friday, July 9, 2010
Film / Film Reviews / News Despicable Me: What's not to like?
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 12:21 PM
By Matt Brunson
DESPICABLE ME
DIRECTED BY Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud
STARS Steve Carell, Jason Segel
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. When Gru (Steve Carell), the star of the 3-D opus Despicable Me (*** out of four), plots to shrink the moon to a size small enough so that he can make off with it, it's clearly to show that he's the baddest dude around. After all, if a supervillain isn't feared and respected, then what good is he?
Despicable Me, one of those non-Pixar animated efforts that actually turns out to be good (happily, we've seen an upswing in the number of such worthy achievements, as evidenced by the likes of How to Train Your Dragon and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), is a witty, congenial lark that obviously won't have the staying power of Toy Story 3 but serves quite nicely as a pleasing placeholder in the cinematic summer of 2010. Sweet-natured yet also avoiding the cloying sentiment that tarnishes any great number of toon tales, this finds Gru enlisting the aid of three oblivious orphan girls to help him one-up his biggest competitor in the supervillain sweepstakes, a self-satisfied nebbish (Jason Segel) who calls himself Vector (and who comes off as the cartoon version of Kick-Ass' Red Mist).
Naturally, Gru knows nothing about children — he places their food and water in dog bowls and sets out newspapers on the floor — and just as naturally, the girls will teach him about family and responsibility. But that comes later. First, the movie has to let loose with a volley of inspired sight gags, a smattering of adult-oriented humor (note the homage to The Godfather), and some screen-pushing innovations to justify the 3-D expense. The latter is especially impressive during a scene set on a roller coaster — viewers who can't afford to go to Carowinds this summer will particularly appreciate the wild ride provided here.
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