Review of Despicable Me (2010) by Trey W — 08 Jul 2015

2010 was a pretty solid year for animated films as it was the year we saw the release of the conclusion on the Toy Story trilogy, the second chapter of this new Disney Renaissance era, and arguably the best film of DreamWorks Animation. But also this year saw the birth of a new competitor in the feature length animation realm, Illumination Entertainment, with the surprise hit "Despicable Me". Is this animated proposal of the same caliber of Pixar, or at least at the same level of DreamWorks?

Gru is supervillain who desires to be the greatest one in history, but when another villain pulls off a heist that overshadows all of Gru´s work, he decides that his next achievement will be something out of this planet: Stealing the Moon.

When you know that this film is about a supervillain, you may believe that this would follow the steps of "The Incredibles" or be a "Megamind" rip-off, but "Despicable Me" isn't as great as the first example or as goofy as the latter. "Despicable Me" counts with solid animation, a talented voice cast which provide some solid performances, a Looney Toons type of slapstick humor, jokes that mostly don't work due to the fact they´re aimed towards the younger audiences, a colorful world, the characters have good designs but are mostly forgettable, the message is cliché and the execution as well, a little entertainment value, and the "dramatic story" had a little potential of being solid (not good) but it never gets the time it deserves as the makers are more interested and focused on the humor than telling a compelling or even slightly memorable story. The biggest icon this film had and the one that pop culture has embraced, to the point of oversaturation and annoyance, are the minions and to be honest, I don't get why people love them. Their design is extremely lazy, they lack personality (being dumb don't qualify as one), their humor is so childish but in a bad way, their presence distracts you from the attempt of a story this film has, and they are ultimately pointless, they even don't work as the comic relief character because everyone in this film is the comic relief. The only thing that I liked in this film were the three girls, each of them are amusing and fun to watch; sure they may be stereotypes but they are fun to watch.

"Despicable Me" works as a serviceable beginning for this new animation company but not as a good animated film. If you have children this is a film for them but not for adults. Cute but filled with flaws and not a single trace of greatness.