"Despicable Me" -- some observations
by SouthernFriedInfidel | Published on July 12th, 2010, 6:39 am | Arts
It was an awkward moment, after the end of the movie, as the credits started to roll. This guy stood up, looked at my wife and me, and said "That movie was better than Toy Story!"I smiled and nodded. Because there's really no talking to anyone who has no clue how to judge the quality of movies. I'm sure that he only said that because he personally had more fun watching this film... but really! This opus was NOT better as a film than Toy Story 3.
That being said, it really IS a good film. It has a very predictable plot (evil curmudgeon gets his heart melted by aggressively cute moppets), but the ride along the way is a great deal of fun. The bumps are smoothed over by the ever-present little yellow minions for the curmudgeon (Gru -- played very nicely by Steve Carrell) and by a few flash-backs to the poor guy's childhood, tormented by his evil mother (Julie Andrews...??!?)
The movie as a whole is off-beat, which takes some getting used to. While Gru IS pretty evil, his basic good nature shows through from the very start. Sure, he loses his patience and freeze-ray's an entire Starbucks rather than waiting in line for his coffee, but at least he drops a tip in the jar for the employees. And when he gets down into his secret lair, among his minions, it turns out he's about the nicest manager you could ever hope to work for. He's definitely a far better employer than nearly every executive I've ever had the misfortune to live with.
So while he tries hard to get on with the business of super-villainy, it's apparent his heart really isn't in it. And of course, that leads to trouble with the Bank of Villains. And that leads to the rest of the film, which, as I said, was a lot of fun.
I definitely recommend the film. But really -- if anyone tells you it's the best movie of the summer, just smile and nod.
Such a good movie, but my heart belongs to Wall-E.
