Criticature: "Despicable Me"--7/18/10

Last Airbender, shshaaw!

 If I have kids I know, right now, that they’re going to have to be ugly ones. I want them to be ugly and maybe even somewhat uncouth. Not problem children. Just…easily punishable. I say that now because unless I change within the next, oh, say ten to fifteen years, I might be in big trouble since I find that it’s nearly impossible for me to find fault in something that’s cute. It’s even harder to try and tell that cute thing its doing something wrong. It’s a very troubling matter for me. So…if I end up having cute kids one day, watch out. They’re probably going to be mischievous conniving bastards because I won’t be able to discipline them correctly.

God knows I couldn’t reprimand the orphan girls of “Despicable Me”, played with such tenacious adorability that I found my cheeks hurt from smiling after I walked out of the theater. So as I type, know that I am struggling to find words to adequately describe my feelings.

As Universal’s first foray into the increasingly competitive animation market, “Despicable” is as good a flagship as any. It's an admirable attempt that is both heart-warming and familiar. Familiar in that it’s the story of a rhinal super-villian named Gru (voiced by Carrell) who learns to love. In all, he’s a cross between the Bond franchise’s Blofeld and the Grinch. And with a legion of yellow “minions”—who tote RPGs and mischief like Gremlin-hybrid ompah-loompas who’ve had enough of your sh*t—he decides to tackle his own inferiority complex by showing up his arch-nemesis and rival, the bowl-haircutted Vector (Segel).

I continually marvel at the freshness and vitality of the animated genre because, as we’ve seen in the last few years, it is indeed coming into a league of its own. And what some live-action movies can’t get away with, movies like “Up” or “Shrek” can. Here you have complete license to use 3-D and it doesn’t feel like just a gimmick. You can have cartoonish mayhem and nobody looks down on you. In essence, when movies like “Despicable” look up at you with those big, glistening puppy-dog eyes and that Oliver Twist shuffle of the feet, you don’t get the feeling that you’re being taken advantage of. And that’s the beauty of the cuteness. No matter how many times we’ve seen this redemption story played out over however many genres, we give it a chance because the simplest cure for glumness is the best kind. And that’s really what “Despicable Me” is. It’s like a sip of Nyquil and a warm blanket. The kind your grandma knitted for you when you were still a baby. 

And though, the purist angry-man in me was consistently on the verge of breaking loose from the bowels of my subconscious throughout the movie, to say that I did not enjoy it would be like trying to justify punching a kitten in the face. Something I doubt most of us can pull off.

****
Directed by:
Pierre Coffin
Chris Renaud

Writers:
Sergio Pablos and Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul

Producers:
John Cohen
Janet Healy
Christopher Meledandri
Marci Levine...............................consulting producer
Nina Rappaport..........................executive producer
Robert Taylor.............................associate producer

Cast:
Steve Carell................................ Gru
Jason Segel..................................Vector
Russell Brand...............................Dr. Nefario
Julie Andrews..............................Gru's Mom
Will Arnett...................................Mr. Perkins
Kristen Wiig................................Miss Hattie
Miranda Cosgrove.......................Margo
Dana Gaier..................................Edith
Elsie Fisher..................................Agnes
Pierre Coffin................................Tim the Minion/Bob the Minion/Mark the Minion/Phil the Minion/Stuart the Minion
Chris Renaud...............................Dave the Minion (voice)
Jemaine Clement..........................Jerry the Minion (voice)