Despicable Me

For the month of July, I think it would be appropriate enough to review an animated franchise that is great for families and I saw the latest installment on opening day. I am, of course, talking about the "Despicable Me" franchise. So, this month, it will be "Despicable Me Month." Let's get things started with the first "Despicable Me" movie, released in 2010. 

The film begins with the truth that villains are a lot of times more hilarious than heroes and makes a villain named Gru, who freeze-dries the people in front of him in line at Starbucks and pops children's balloons. Despite that he's inspired by many James Bond villains, two things make him different: (1) His great mad scientist lab is located not in the desert or on the moon, but in the baseman of his rural home, and (2) He doesn't dream of world domination as much as wanting to take over the news headlines as the Greatest Villain of All Time. 

Gru is voiced by Steve Carrell, who gives him an accent mixed with a Russian criminal and an insane Nazi. His life is really hard because his mother, voiced by Julie Andrews, sometimes hassles him. Roger Ebert noted in his review, "Memories stir of Rupert Pupkin in his basement, yanked from his fantasies by his mother's voice." Gru's most powerful weapon is the Insta-Freeze Gun, but now, with the help of his right-hand man Dr. Nefario, voiced by Katy Perry's former husband, Russell Brand, he can create Shrink Ray. 

Just has the entire world villain rule is in his hand, Gru is overshadowed by his worst enemy Vector, voiced by Marshall Eriksen from "How I Met Your Mother," Jason Segel, who steals the Great Pyramid. Ebert noted, "Since that pyramid was previously pounded to pieces by the Transformers, the Egyptians should establish a CGI-free zone around it." 

Gru is encouraged so much by his faithful minions, who are actually called the Minions, and, as Ebert describes, "look like yellow exercise balls with one or two eyes apiece." The main responsibility of the Minions is to inspire Gru, who calls them like he's an office manager. Ebert said, "He hatches a plan to use the Shrink Ray and steal no less than the moon itself, and explains it to the Minions with a plan that reminded me of nothing so much as the guy in the joke who plans to get the gorilla down out of the tree using only a broomstick, a pair of handcuffs and a savage Dalmatian dog." 

To make a villain into the protagonist of an animated comedy is quite a task, but the filmmakers add three cute kids to add good measure. They are Margo (Megan Parker from "Drake & Josh" and the title character from "iCarly," Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher). Gru meets them at his friendly neighborhood orphanage, the boss being the mysterious Miss Hattie, played by Kristen Wiig. His plan is to keep them at his home until his moon plan is ready to go, and then use the kids to break into Vector's house by deception – pretending to sell cookies. It goes like how the sun rises and sets that the orphans will work their childlike charms on Gru and eventually make him realize that the big man has a heart, similar to the Grinch. 

"Despicable Me" doesn't have a franchise to last very long, but it may have many sequels. Ebert said, "I'm not sure how Gru can think up anything more sensational than stealing the moon, but I'm sure Dr. Nefario is working on that as we speak. The film is funny, energetic, teeth-gnashingly venomous and animated with an eye to exploiting the 3-D process with such sure-fire techniques as a visit to an amusement park." 

Ebert ended his review by saying, "The sad thing, I am forced to report, is that the 3-D process produces a picture more dim than it should be. “Despicable Me” is technically competent and nowhere near the visual disaster that is “The Last Airbender,” but take my word for it: Try to find it in 2-D. Or, if you see it in 3-D, check out the trailers online to see how bright and cheery it would look in 2-D. How can people deceive themselves that 3-D is worth paying extra for?" 

Take my word for it, see this movie if you haven't. My siblings saw this in the theaters without me, but that was because I was taking a summer class at the time and I needed to get some work done. Little did I know is that they snuck into seeing "Toy Story 3." That's beside the point. When I saw this movie on DVD, I laughed a lot from beginning to end. If you have children, I think they will laugh a lot at this as well. Definitely don't miss your chance to see this movie. 

Stay tuned later tonight because I'm going to see the new Spider-Man movie. I'm really looking forward to seeing that movie because I think it should be the best Spider-Man movie ever. Review to come later tonight.