The story follows Gru, a sort of failed villain whose still trying to prove his true evil side. Well things don't get any better when a young villain named Vector begins to steal the show pulling off massive mischievous schemes.
Gru has a brilliant idea (To him anyways) to steal the moon and become the worlds greatest villain. After always being put down by his mom when he was a kid, he is set on proving himself to the world along with his minions (Little oval creatures that remind me of Spongebob) and Dr. Nefario.
He goes to an evil bank to help him fond for his mission, but instead gets rejected until his plan is completely planned out and he can get his hands on a shrink ray (So he can shrink the moon and steal it).
He soon finds out that Vector has a freeze ray of his own, and Gru plans on stealing it. After a failed attempt at getting into Vector's headquarters, he see three little girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, selling cookies in a neighborhood and getting into Vector's house easily. He soon comes up with yet another brilliant plan to adopt the girls and send them into Vector's house to get the ray for him, little does he know the responsibilities of children.
Most animated films nowadays that aren't from heavy hitting studios like Pixar or Dreamworks have failed to really bring anything new to the table, but Despicable Me is finally able to break that trend. It doesn't feel like it's trying too hard to follow along the lines of a typical Pixar or Dreamworks film; something that so many animated films strive towards and ultimately fail at, and in turn it ends up being a very fresh addition to the family animation genre. It offers us a very different type of animated film in both it's tone and humor, as well as giving us a fresh and new animated world that's very visually unique and memorable and helps the film differentiate itself from all the other effortless Pixar and Dreamworks copycats we constantly see on the big screen.
But another thing that elevates the movie from your usual family animated film and the tremendous voice acting performances for each of the film's characters. With such big named stars as Steve Carrell, Julie Andrews, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, and Jason Segel headlining the film's cast, you probably wouldn't have even realized it was them had their names not been in the credits. Even Pixar films such as Toy Story and Cars are guilty of pretty much getting big named stars to use their usual voices for their characters (Such as Tom Hank's Woody), but Despicable Me really goes out of it's way to separate the characters from the actors their playing, and it really help the characters feel like their own personalities without the distraction of just hearing an actor's recognizable voice. I was particularly impressed by Carrell's hysterical accent as the film's titular character Gru, and I can honestly say that he's succeeded at one of the best animated film voices since Mike Myer's hilarious Scottish accent in Shrek.
Despicable Me was definitely better than I expected. The voice acting is jaw dropping and phenomenal, especially by Carell as Gru and Julie Andrews as his mom. You'd never guess it was them behind the voices of the characters.
The movie was very hilarious, most of the humor coming from the minions and the youngest girl Agnes. Agnes is also very cute throughout the film, which families will love.
Now the movie can't compare to Toys Story 3, but it is a perfect movie to see with your family and kids during the summer. I assure you that you will have a blast watching the movie. The story is very creative but a bit predictable. I couldn't help but think of Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb while watching this movie (Both being evil 'failed' villains, big noses, and having funny accents), but Gru has definetly got a sense of originality to him.
Despicable me is a must see for families, and personally I can't wait for a sequel.
I give Despicable Me 4 out of 5 stars:
What did you think of Despicable Me? Are you hoing to see it?
