Review of Despicable Me (2010) by Drew H — 09 Jul 2017

I remembered after I saw Despicable Me the first time [when it came out] that is was very...okay. And after watching it again? I wasn't really wrong.

There are two general consensuses of this film: one being "it's a good kids movie!" and the other being "it's just a soulless market campaign for Minions merch". So, where do I fall? Somewhere in the middle.

I would say that ironically, the Minions (the biggest selling point of this film) were one of the weakest parts of this film. A good chunk of the 'comedy' in this family 'comedy' relies too heavily on them. The main problem here is that most of the time they're just not given funny things to do. We're expected to laugh just because "Hey! They're doing yoga and they're weird!" or "Hey! They did something that was a funny fad 7 years ago!". And when it's not that, it's; Shrek-esque jokes, loud obnoxious noises, making a face, or saying something that makes no sense.--Something that'd only get a laugh out of a very young child. Though to be fair, that was one of the major-target audiences.

It's a shame that most of the humor relies on the Minions when they only really do a couple actually-funny things, because the rest of the jokes and humor in this film IS funny and well-done! The black comedy with Gru is done really well, and it's really entertaining to see just how relentlessly mean and remorseless he is. The beautiful animation helps with this effect juxtaposing Gru's actions with a bright, colorful world, though Carell carries this film (as Gru) with his great energy and deliveries. The little girls can just get annoying to some, though Agnes is just adorable.

Sadly, Carell and even the enjoyable heist/action scenes aren't enough to save this film from an abundance of overused cliches (like: the 'cool' grandma, the 'embarrassing parent' and the 'big misunderstanding').

But overall, I'd say there's definitely enough good in this movie to maybe check it out. If you're able to sit through a lot of jokes you've probably seen before to get to the good stuff, it's worth it.