The Super Network

I love animated films, and sometimes I don’t always get to see them once they are first released. It has taken me a few years to finally sit down and watch Despicable Me, but I am really glad I did. This really is a very cute and enjoyable film, one for the entire family. It is heart-warming and I love the themes of family that the film presents. We also are given a main character who is a villain, and the adults who watch this will recognise the nods to James Bond. Much like with Megamind, we are with the villain for the entire film but as it turns out he’s not such a bad guy.

Our main character is Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) who is determined to be known as the Greatest Villain Of All Time. His lab is inside his suburban house, and he has a hoard of (adorable) minions to help him out as well as his inventor Dr. Nefario (voiced by Russell Brand). Gru has some competition from another villainVector (voiced by Jason Segel), whose shrinking gun is what Gru needs to … steal the moon! Gru ends up forming a plan to stealing the shrinking gun by taking in three orphans Margo, Edith and Agnes, who don’t know he’s a super villain. And well you’ll have to watch to find out the rest.

What works great here is Gru is such a great character, he is really well developed and we do get to know him. His mother (voiced by Julie Andrews) basically ignored him as a child, so he certainly has a longing to succeed, especially with his dream of getting to the moon (and stealing it). We actually understand his motivations, and while we don’t necessarily want to him steal the moon we do want him to defeat Vector and form a family with the girls. Vector is not a typical villain, but there isn’t much to like about him, so its really well handled. The girls are adorable, and they fit in perfectly in Gru’s world, because they needed each other. The minions are the highlight, they are fantastic and I definitely want a few.

The voice work is really entertaining, the show belongs to Steve Carell, he really helps bring Gru to life. He uses a European accent, which sort of sounds mean but it’s actually really cute. This was a great case of Carell really getting the character and him working well with the material. I actually quite enjoyed Jason Segel and what he brought to Vector, I almost didn’t recognise his voice. Russell Brand was great and his is another voice I didn’t recognise, he surprised me here and he should do more voice work. The girls are great, the cast for them was spot on with Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elise Fisher. These characters will easily win you over, it was a solid mixture here.

I like that the film gave us a villain that we could understand and who becomes the hero, daring for sure and it really works. Major kudos to directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud for putting together such an entertaining family film, that really appeals to both kids and adults. Also major props to the animation team, it is really well done and I like how it had its own distinct look and set itself apart from others. Despicable Me certainly had a really wonderful team behind it and it does show. This is a really funny, engaging and touching film, one I will likely watch a few times over.

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