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Orphans Edith, Agnes and Margo talk the villainous Gru into a roller-coaster ride in the 3-D comic, animated “Despicable Me.” |
Universal Pictures’ “Despicable Me” fills the bill as a mildly diverting, whimsically entertaining 3-D computer-animated feature for kids.
But in the wake of Pixar’s multilayered “Toy Story 3,” brimming with sadness, horror, adventure and time-passage metaphors targeting more mature viewers, the French-made “Despicable Me” may come off as a more generic production that will be instantly forgotten once the end credits roll.
What’s it about?
Look no further than the commercials and theatrical trailers. They tell us everything we need to know about the story arc: “From Super Bad to Super Dad!”
Steve Carell supplies the villainous hero, known as Gru, with a cartoony Russian accent that, to the actor’s credit, never grates on the eardrums as it so easily could.
Gru wants to become the greatest villain in the world. To do that, he’ll have to steal something even more daring than the great pyramid, the most recent achievement of his closest villainous rival, the enigmatic couch potato Vector (Jason Segel).
Gru’s plan: to steal the moon from the sky with help from a super shrink ray.
Meanwhile, the emotional subplot kicks in when three lovable little orphans – Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) – arrive at his doorstep selling cookies for Miss Hattie’s Home for Girls, run by the no-nonsense Miss Hattie (Kristen Wiig).
The three girls give the would-be master villain an inspired idea: He’ll use the girls to infiltrate his rival’s headquarters and supply him with information that will enable Gru to become the best at being the worst. (Read more…)