MyRating: YY1/2Director: Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud
Voice: Steve Carell, Jason Segal, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Elsie Fisher
MPAA: Rated PG for rude humor and mild action
Despicable Me is the first 3D computer-animated feature film from Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment. Talking about computer-animated film, Disney/Pixar has always been in the lead of the game, because of their pioneering status with Toy Story back in 1995, their sophisticated graphics and solid storylines. DreamWorks follows closely in the second place, with their most bankable series, Shrek. Do not forget Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox with their Ice Age trilogy, and the unbelievable huge amount of money this trilogy has pumped-in to the studio. Yes, the computer-animated film has become a huge business in Hollywood nowadays, which attracts many studios to participate in producing many new animated films every year, so also to sip the profits that these movies may bring in.
And now, since it is the 3D era, every studio races to make the 3D animated films. Blue Sky did it first with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. DreamWorks did it with How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek Forever After this year. And Disney/Pixar definitely did not want to lose their pioneer status and did it with Toy Story 3. It's simple, if you do not make it in 3D, then you will fall behind the trend (or in the case of Disney/Pixar, it will be a matter of dignity). And by seeing today's 3D animated films, it makes the old/conventional 2D animated films of Disney (Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, and friends) look like the movies from the 'ice age' era, disregard how much we loved these movies.
Despicable Me has an impressive 3D with its exciting pop-up effects. Indeed, it was the most exciting 3D effects, in terms of 'things jump out of the screen', that I have watched so far. The pop-up of objects was more real and much closer to you. There was also a roller coaster scene, where you will feel as if you were on the roller coaster yourself. Of course, earlier this year, we have watched the 3D of How to Train Your Dragon which was also awesome, especially when you experienced flying with the dragon. The 3D of Shrek Forever After was okay, but not that memorable. While for Toy Story 3, the funny thing is, I almost did not feel the 3D effects. Whether we like it or not, 3D effects are always associated with the 'pop-up' things. The more it pops-up, the more it will be we appreciated for its 3D. And when speaking of this, I think Despicable Me was one of the best pop-up animated 3D so far.
The story is about a supervillain named Gru (Carell), whose pride was being wounded, when he learned that the Pyramid was being stolen by an unknown theft. Driven by jealousy, Gru plans the biggest crime in the history, wich is to steal the moon, so that he could get a recognition from the world that he is the greatest villain living on earth. With the assistant of Dr. Nefario (Brand) and his small army of minions, Gru executes his wicked scheme. But it appears to be not an easy task for Gru, as he has to face with another villain, Vector (Segel), the real theft of the Pyramid, who also wants to be known as the biggest supervillain on earth. When Gru meets with three little orphan girls, Margo, Edith and Agnes, he finally finds a way on how to defeat his enemy, which is by using these three girls as baits. So, he decides to adopt them. However, when the girls come to live in his house, their innocent, purity and loves somehow change Gru's view about life, and ultimately change his life forever.
This movie happened to be a big hit in the box office. Critics and audiences loved it, that gave a good buzz of words of mouth. Besides the appealing 'pop-up' 3D that I mentioned above, the story was also entertaining, that attracted many audiences to the cinemas. And kids will definitely love the funny 'minions'. For the voicing, I think Steve Carell was doing a good job in coloring the character of Gru.
As for me, I enjoyed the pop-up 3D, and the roller coaster scene. But for the story, I have to sincerely say that I did not enjoy and like it that much. And I did think that the storyline was not that good. The (crude) humor somehow did not work for me. I believe that many people loved and thought that the minions were funny, which they did, but I didn't really fall in love with the minions. Maybe if I were younger, I will love them more, as well as the story, which I think was more suitable for kids. The relationship between the three little girls and Gru was sweet though. I think that was the power of this movie, that left us with warm feelings, even though not as good as what Pixar usually did to us with their powerful impact scenes.
I don't think Despicable Me will be the front runner for next year Oscar's Best Animated Feature Film, to compete with Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon. And in terms of the quality of the story, I don't think that it even close to those two other much superior movies. (MJ)
