Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
8/4/10
Feature-length animation
is the hottest thing going in the movie business right now, and every studio
is rushing to catch up to Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks' long-established
animation machines. What's interesting to watch about this process
is that these films are a different animal than the traditional feature,
with studios assembling a roster of talent that churns out movies that
take years to make on an assembly line, one after another. In other
words, a modern studio system that results in the films of specific studios
having a specific personality in a way the live-action bouncing of filmmakers
from one company to another cannot approach. It would be kinda like
if you had a studio that made only Martin Scorsese movies, and another
doing only Michael Bay. Despicable Me marks the first feature-length
animated movie from Universal-based Illumination Entertainment, and it
represents a hearkening back to the work of Chuck Jones and the Looney
Toons era of what could casually be called “cartoons”. In fact, there's
a lot of common ground between Despicable and Jones' classic Dr.
Seuss-based TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Aside
from the similarities in plot and character arcs, another thing the two
project have in common is that they're stories best told in a half hour
rather than 90 minutes. Despicable Me is cute, funny and from
time to time quite sweet. But it's also padded like all get-out,
diminishing the impact of both its story and some really snappy 3D effects.
The Great Pyramid at Giza
has been stolen and replaced with an inflatable replica! The fellow
evil geniuses and criminal masterminds of Gru (voice of Steve Carrell)
call to issue their congratulations, but it wasn't he who did the deed.
Truth be told, Gru's mad schemes, conducted with the help of Dr. Nefario
(Russell Brand) and an army of tiny yellow minions, have erred on the side
of lame lately. And it's harder and harder to keep his Evil reputation
up in the face of his disapproving Mother (Julie Andrews) and banker Mr.
Perkins (Will Arnett) upon whom he relies for the capital to steal stuff
and ransom it back to its owners. He needs a big win, and so he thinks
big: Gru will steal The Moon! But first, he needs a miniaturization
ray that falls into the hands of Vector (Jason Segel), the actual Pyramid
thief and Perkins' new preferred client. Gru needs a plan to penetrate
Vector's defenses and, while scouting his mansion, discovers how willing
his nemesis is to open his doors to three sweet little orphans selling
cookies. So Gru does the logical thing: adopts the little girls.
He expects Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie
Fisher) to be no more trouble than house pets, but not only do they distract
his attention from the moon theft, they slowly begin to melt his evil heart.
Despicable Me's story
isn't terribly original (although it is an original property, worthy of
praise in and of itself these days), but the retro style in which debuting
directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud (veterans of the Fox animation
department) have chosen to tell it does stand out. Perhaps their
greatest creations are those crazy minions, little pill-shaped humanoids
who're excited about everything and race around muttering unintelligibly
in high-pitched voices. What are these guys? Robots?
Aliens? Mutant creations of Dr. Nefario? That the movie offers
no explanation for this or any other aspect of its hero-free bizarro world
of villains is one of its charms. Gru's day-to-day life is filled
with cute little touches like the massive jet engine-powered car her drives
around to consume maximum fossil fuels and the weird little mutant “dog”
he keeps as a pet. After Vector steals the pyramid, he gives new
meaning to hiding it in plain sight, painting a blue sky and clouds on
it and simply dropping one of the Seven Wonders of the World in his back
yard (you'd think this camouflage wouldn't work so well at night, but the
movie never follows up).
To really make this sing,
the filmmakers would have had to pack it tight with crazy inventions, creatures
and nefarious schemes, but Despicable Me is content to take its
sweet time and be witty rather than hilarious. Gru's transformation
is easier to buy than some similar turn-arounds because he does actually
spend some time with the girls, but the movie's slow pace kept me from
ever being particularly gripped by a story that's not exactly dripping
with urgency. After all, do we really WANT the moon to be stolen?
It's unusual the way the
actors are all “doing” voices like the voice actors of old rather than
simply speaking in the recognizable tones that would explain their star
billing. Unfortunately, while the vocal performances are all fine,
no one in the cast creates the kind of memorably amusing voice you'll hear
anyone doing an impression of anytime soon. The film's most memorable
vocal work comes from Coffin, Renaud and Jemaine Clement, who provide the
delightful sounds of the minions.
I appreciated the way Coffin
and Renaud actually made use of the 3D that's now de rigueur in all animated
features: don't tell these guys it's uncool to shove a big pointy
thing at the camera! The 3D highlight is probably a great first person
rider trip on a roller coaster that takes advantage of 3D's ability to
create vertiginous heights to actually simulate the experience of preparing
for and then experiencing a coaster drop. There's also a great little
bit over the end credits where multiple minions compete to see who can
get closest to the audience, climbing and swinging farther and farther
out on a series of ladders and ropes.
Despicable Me is a
cute hour and a half at the movies, with 3D effects that actually improve
on seeing the movie flat or on TV. Parents may find the story particularly
to their liking, and their kids will certainly enjoy watching the minions'
antics. But I stick to my guns: this would have killed as a
half-hour short. At feature length, cute will have to do. |
