The Freak's Rating: C+ : It is sometimes very easy to see why a film receives the green light from Hollywood. With Steve Carrell attached and the same producers on board from Ice Age, Despicable Me was a no brainer. Sadly a bit more attention should have been paid to the film's script and direction and you may have had a successful franchise on your hands.
Carrell easily blends into the role of Gru, which allows you to quickly forget about who is playing the character and focus on the movie. All other actors are nicely assigned to roles that allow you/them to do the same. So the voice acting for the film goes beyond some features that fail in this category (e.g. Horton Hears A Who), where you can only concentrate on who is performing, constantly saying "who is that voice?".
The real flaws here are in the story. Gru comes off incredibly flat throughout the film, only blending into a semi-likeable guy in the final act of the film. More attention should have been paid to making the audience do a 180 emotionally towards the guy. With the exception of an entertaining 30 second montag near the opening credits, we begin to feel sorry for Gru only minutes into the film, which virtually destroys the "bad guy turning nice" element that we are forced to embrace in the final act.
The minions are entertaining, but are shoved down your throat a little too violently for my taste. When they blend into the background, they are more amusing. Another glaring oversight is the integration of adult humor. Pixar succeeds in a way many attempt to replicate but can never seem to carry out. In PIxar films, when references are made to adult subject matter, it is subtle, causing chuckles in the audience from Moms and Dads who realize they just laughed at a joke WAY over the heads of the children in the audience. In Despicable Me, the references are far too obvious, allowing any intelligent audience member to easily see the interjection of the material.
Agnes, the youngest orphan girl in the film is adorable in every scene which she plays a part in, an obvious attempt to pull at our heartstrings. She does have the best line written in the film, "it's so fluffy I'm gonna die!". If you aren't going to see the film, at least lookup that scene on YouTube.
Perhaps the most glaring oversight of the studio is the poorly timed release date of this film. Though in the can for a couple months, they held this off until the beginning of July, a mere two weeks after Toy Story 3 was released. The aforementioned flaws may not have been so easily revealed had American audiences been given a few weeks to step away from what a perfectly animated film should be.
Overall, this is just barely an entertaining film. Though I wouldn't recommend it to many and would send them to Toy Story 3 instead, it still has a few laughs. If your kids are itching to hit the movies, you'll be semi-entertained by this. I'd just not commit to purchasing it on DVD, as the flaws will only seem more obvious on the 33rd viewing.
