Ich - Einfach unverbesserlich

I heard that this movie was very good, and after seeing seeing it myself, I have to say I heartily concur. While not my favourite film of the year, and the film never tries to be that, Despicable Me is cute and wonderfully inventive. While it could have been a little longer, what made Despicable Me work was a number of things. The animation for starters is stunning, I liked the colours and character designs but it was the backgrounds and retro-futurist design that blew me away, while the gadgetry is ingenious.

The music fits very well with the film and is memorable without being overly ambitious or simplistic, the story is ceaselessly inventive and fast paced with a surprisingly clever subplot about the importance of family. The characters also add a lot, Gru is wonderfully zany especially and I found it impossible not to fall in love with his minions, they are so cute. But my favourite assets of Despicable Me are the humour and the voice cast. The writing is just excellent, it was so funny and incredibly smart without feeling too much, while the voice work is exemplary especially from Steve Carell whose brilliant vocals add a lot to the film's success.

Overall, a truly great film with a lot to like. 9/10 Bethany Cox

"Now, the rest of the plan is simple. I fly to the moon. I shrink the moon. I grab the moon. I sit on the toilet."

Any animated movie that was released during 2010 is inevitably going to be compared to Toy Story 3, so let's get that out of the way, first. No, Despicable Me is not "better" than Toy Story 3. On an emotional and story-telling level, it's not nearly as profound or involving. But Despicable Me isn't trying to be profound, it's aiming for amusement and entertainment. And on those two fronts, Dreamworks has a definite success on their hands.

My favorite thing about Despicable Me is how humorous it is. This is seriously the funniest animated movie that I've seen in quite a while. It has the expected amount of jokes that will give kids (and older people, too) the giggles, as well as lots of comedy that only the grown-up crowd will appreciate. It's fun to see what will pop up next (keep your eyes open for a particularly amusing reference to a particularly un-amusing scene in The Godfather).

Despicable Me is also a vivid, bright movie that's pleasing to the eye in all the right ways. The character designs are stylized and fun, the soundtrack is a nice change of pace for this kind of film, and the pacing is excellent, with nary a dull stretch. The voice talent is great, but I will admit that most of them were pretty much unrecognizable. I wouldn't have known that Jason Segel, Kristin Wiig, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, or Will Arnett were even involved, if not for the credits and the fact that I had read about them beforehand. Steve Carell and Jack McBrayer (in a small but hilarious part) are really the only voices that are easily recognizable. That's not a criticism, just an observation. 

So yeah, it's pretty clear that I liked this movie a lot. It reminds me most of Monsters, Inc. (a movie I absolutely love) in the way that it combines sweetness and humor in a manner that's never cloying or annoying. Watch it with your kids, watch it with your friends, watch it with your significant other, or watch it by yourself. You'll laugh, you'll cheer, you'll say "awwww", and you'll fall in love with Agnes, Edith, and Margo even faster than Gru does.

Gru (Steve Carell) is a horrible villain. Horrible as in he's not that good at it. He's petty. And when he is overtaken by another villain, he finds that he's not up to taking on Vector (Jason Segel). When he couldn't break into Vector's home, he notice 3 orphans selling cookies got in. So what's a respectable villain's suppose to do? Adopt them of course as part of an evil plan.

Gru is a weird character to like, and it's not that much fun to watch at first. His minions help a lot. Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) is also good. But it's the 3 orphans causing all kinds of problem that makes it all alright. It's pretty good animation work. And there's a good story of how a bad guy learn to love. It has its funny moments and it has the minions.

I should note that I did NOT see this film in 3-D but at a non-3-D equipped theater. I am not sure that this impacted my viewing experience very much as most 3-D films I have seen really didn't benefit much from this technology--the most notable exception being "How To Train Your Dragon"--a film that fully utilized 3-D and was amazing to see in all its glory.

I should also point out that I knew exactly where this film was going long before it got there--and I am sure most adult viewers and kids probably felt the same way. Heck, just by watching the preview for the film a few months back, I knew exactly where the film would go. But despite being a formulaic film where the big curmudgeon has his heart melted by some adorable orphans, I still had a wonderful time watching the movie. Why? Because it did something that many family movies forget--it was fun!! And, on top of that, it was super-cute--but not in a cloying manner. Unless you are Genghis Khan, you WILL find the countless little yellow minions to be completely adorable and funny--a real high point for the film. Heck, a couple months before the film was released, I was at Universal Studios in Florida and just HAD to have my picture taken with one of these characters as it roamed the park--it was just so freaking cute! And, I even liked the adorable little orphans--something I usually hate in films. They had a good balance between cute, sassy and endearing.

Overall, this is a wonderful 3-D movie because parents can enjoy it. I loved the characters and thought the French animators did a terrific job--with artistry that stacks up very well against the older and more established CGI studios, Pixar and Dreamworks. A pleasant treat that won't change your life...but who cares if it's so entertaining?!

By the way, the plot for this film sure looks a lot like "Megamind" that was released just a few weeks later. I have yet to see "Megamind" and plan on doing so soon, so I'll update this review to reflect which of the two films I preferred. I just can't imagine how "Megamind" could be that much better!

As a reviewer mentioned, this year is set to be a great year of animated films, much like the previous two years. This is proved with Pixar's unmatched (touching wood) winning streak and Dreamworks' surprise turn "How To Train Your Dragon", which proceeds to continue the ever- increasing "golden years" of computer-animated films. Universal's "Despicable Me" is yet another gem in an already quite-heavy bag of diamonds.

With nice direction, the filmmakers were able to combine two quite unoriginal plots into one with ease and without force, and they managed to add wit, charm and smart humor to it as well. Not to mention heart. I have never heard of the filmmakers before, but this is a heck of a debut from two first-time animated film directors. The humor is also not too over the top, yet utterly hilarious and ingenious when they pop up. Most of the jokes had the entire audience rolling in the aisles. The three girls end up being adorable and lovable characters, as per the main character/protagonist/villain, whom you can't help but cheer on and care for, no matter what he does. Steve Carell is spot-on as Gru and he makes the role funnier than it should be, I mean his voice and humorous style is there behind the funny accent. And what Gru plots and does is beyond ridiculous and far too funny to be deemed "serious" by any cynic. Some hilarious supporting characters round out the primary cast, most notably Gru's assistant Dr. Nefarious played by Russell Brand, and I could not believe Julie Andrews was Gru's mother, I hardly recognized her voice at all! Jason Segel was hilarious as Gru's vain nemesis Vector. And let's not forget the utterly adorable and hilarious minions and their wacky antics.

Technical wise, the animation is gorgeous, bright and nicely rendered with a deft touch of simplicity to it, causing it to be not too overly glossy and polished. This makes the animation look less artificial and more fluid, and this especially shows when it comes to the practical jokes. The music score is just wonderful and suits the moods of the film as they come along. The 3D is great and used quite a number of times in the movie during many effect-driven scenes, which is very impressive considering the poor up-conversion to 3D of MANY movies of late.

Overall, this animated film is a great fun time for the kids and family to see, and even some teens will get many laughs out of it as well. This is a very adorable film, full of charm and heart, and with a funny and lighthearted storyline, and may the powers that be reward this at the box office, if the mediocre "Eclipse" isn't taking all of its viewers already. Looks like Universal's animation days are returning.

Entertainment value: 10/10

Overall: 7.5/10