Despicable Me reviewed

At first glance at the trailers and ads, Despicable Me looked to be a piece of total crap.  All it had was Steve Carell in a funny accent and extremely unfunny gags with annoying children.  I was prepared to give this a wide berth as possible but then I found people liked it.  Fine, far be it from me to say what people can and cannot like and then TV Tropes had to show me a couple heartwarming moments and I was like DAWWWW!  So one thing to lead to another and I decided to watch this.  So was the promos wrong...pretty much but it does show some flaws.

So Gru is, or was, one of the top Supervillains ever but his time has come and gone.  He's been reduced to stealing the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower...the small ones from Las Vegas.  But he has a plan, a plan so awesome that it will restore his position as a great supervillain, he's going to steal THE MOON!  But there are quite a few setbacks, first the evil bank won't give him a loan without a shrink ray.  Then a brash, new supervillain called Vector steals the shrink ray right under Gru.  Which then leads to Gru adopting three little girls to deliver cookies to him so he can steal back the shrink ray.  But being a father, Gru realizes that sometimes love is a better feeling than supervillainy.

Despicable Me moments of hilarity usually come out of the sight gags and slapstick.  When something explodes or Gru's adorably evil minions hit each other, it's hilarious.  However, it also seems to think that Gru saying hip things and mixing expressions up with his funny accent is funny...it's not.  As for the emotional parts of the film, it takes almost an hour to get to the uplifting parts and they're not really that well-connected with sudden turns and whatnot.  But who's to say it's doesn't work since I went D'AWWW a few times....or maybe it's because I grow into a bigger wussy the older I get.

As for the voice-acting, most of it's fine.  Most of what Steve Carell does is just say things in a funny accent but there are a few times where he just shines like when he pretty much tells his minions that he they are unable to steal the moon and seek employment elsewhere.  The kids are fine, they're cute without giving me diabetes.  But really impressive work goes to Russell Brand...you know, that English comedian with that hair who's either hilarious or annoying.  Here, he's unrecognizable as the old inventor guy/Gru's dragon Dr. Nefario.  And even equally shocking is Mary Poppins herself, Julie Andrews, as Gru's mother where she barely gives Gru any love or attention playing against type in an amazing way...sadly, she has very few lines.  Somebody who sucks in this is Jason Segel, Vector.  Granted, part of it is the screenplay and his character just looks horrible but every time he talks all I heard was SCREECH SCREECH...*shudder*.

As for the animation itself, it's ok as well.  There's no place where it looks unfinished or blocky or just plain ugly.  But on the flip side, there's no place where it looks stunning or captivating or even something that briefly captures the imagination.  It does what it needs to do, it helps the story and all that but animation is not Despicable's Me best moment.

This movie is fine, when it wants to be funny it can be hilarious.  When it wants to be sweet, it can melt hearts.  It doesn't have the best written screenplay and it has a pretty weak villain and some loose ends don't get tied up like in a good animated movie but despite all that, I still like it.  It's middle of the road fare that will entertain kids and not insult nor bore a parent.

7/10