Comedic Storytelling: Despicable Me

July 27th, 2010  |   By Rono   |   35,203 views  |   6 Comments »

Despicable Me is an animated family comedy that sets the tone as funny from the very first shot. The pyramid of Giza has been stolen and no one knows which of the world’s villains is responsible for this “despicable crime.” Gru, the world’s number one supervillain is being outsmarted by a younger opponent and he needs to pull a great heist to get back on top.

This movie is a collection of very funny gags correctly ordered into a coherent story. It satisfies and you will want to see it again, especially if you have kids. They will probably drag you by your feet if you resist.

The setup

Meet Gru (hilariously voiced by Steve Carell), the world’s number one villain. We see him bully a little kid, then cut in line to steal coffee and cookies from a coffee shop and talking to his neighbor and making a slightly veiled threat to his dog. Then he pretends to be a recorded message to avoid buying cooking for three orphan little girls. Gru has an army of tiny yellow helpers appropriately called Minions.

To counter the pyramid stunt and regain his number one rank, Gru decides to steal the moon. Mr Perkins, the banker, rejects his loan application for the rocket construction until he can produce (read: steal) the shrink ray necessary to pull off his new project.

At the bank, he sees Vector, his soon-to-be nemesis. Vector is the one who stole the pyramid. Gru gets (read: nabs) the shrink ray, but he is immediately hijacked the exact same way by Vector on the way home. The least we can say, Gru is not a very successful villain. His grumpy mother (Julie Andrews) seems to think so too. Makes you wonder how he got to be number one.

Meet the girls, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher), eagerly expecting their adoption from Miss Hattie’s (Kristen Wiig) Home for Girls. Their life is not easy. They have to meet daily quotas, selling cooking during the day. Miss Hattie is not always very pleasant with them.

The complications

Gru tries everything to get the weapon back to no comedic avail. But then he sees the little girls enter Vector’s home, to sell cookies and suddenly a light bulb shines in his brain. “Dr Gru” then adopts the three little angels. His life will never be the same.

The first day is is a collection of gags as the two parties get acquainted. Gru is rapidly in over his head, between the goofy sidekicks and his new opinionated and curious daughters the villain’s life slowly starts to slip out of his control.

The girls, got bored and started exploring the house. They end up in the lab. Complications ensue: Agnes’s unicorn (she’s obsessed with them) is disintegrated. She holds her breath to demand a new one.

This leads to a funny scene involving three Minions disguised as a family in a mall. Gru still resists the girls’ influence so far. He can still make fun of the youngest at bed time. But the next day, things start to shift. Gru is forced to attend their dance class.

Follows the heist. It does not go as smoothly as expected. The girls sell Vector the cookies, But Gru’s part of the mission encounters some complications where the gags keep flowing in quick succession. It does not stop there.

The new Gru

Despite being a selfish villain, we do root for Gru. First, he is not completely horrible to his daughters (as opposed to Miss Hattie who serves as a bad version of him). Second, Gru is bullied by the bank manager Mr Perkins (Will Arnett) who favors his own son, Vector(Jason Segel). And finally he has always failed at getting some respect and affection from his mother (Julie Andrews).

On the way back, the loot in the bag, Agnes spots an amusement park and Gru reluctantly finds himself nauseous and strapped in a roller coaster car with the screaming girls. Next, Agnes wants the fluffy unicorn (another one). Only they have to win it. Unfortunately, the game is rigged and they do not win the prize as expected. So Gru pull out his own gun. The result:

GRU

Knocked over!

And Agnes goes nuts.

AGNES

It's so fluffy!

At the end of the day, a very different Gru (face painted like a bunny) comes home with the girls and his arms full of prizes.

The cherry on the cake comes when Dru’s presentation to the bank manager is accidently sabotaged by the girls quest for fun. The banker is not happy and the villain loses his funding.

Addressing the Minions, a chocked up Gru considers giving up when the girls bring him their piggy bank. Very heartwarming moment. The Minions also jump in and everyone contributes something, cash, wallet, crown, etc. They are back on track.

The job

Days go by and the team can work preparing the mission. Gru becomes more and more a dad taking care of his girls. The height of his transformation, Gru, the former villain, is reading them a bedtime story. Dr Nefario, his chief scientist does not like it. He thinks Gru is going soft.

The scientist then arranges for the little girls to be picked up by Miss Hattie who understood that Gru wanted to return them. It is a touching goodbye. The sniffling villain spends the rest of the day alone and sad.

Finally, it is time for action. Gru, in his pink, space suit boards the rocket and flies to meet his destiny. He makes it and bags the moon then he realizes he can make the girls’ dance recital. But Vector kidnaps them at the same time Dr Nefario realizes the objects shrinked by the ray will recover their original size.

Gru, Dr Nefario and the little Minions fly after Vector who is experiencing some difficulties with the moon growing bigger inside his ship. The newly good guys narrowly succeed rescuing the three girls from Vector’s ship while the villain ends up stranded, alone, on the moon back in orbit round good old blue Earth.

Final words

We are happy of Steve Carell’s choice on this movie. After the 40-Year-Old Virgin, he’s been part of several bombs (we haven’t seen Date Night yet.) They did manage to add a musical ending, but it was funny and original enough: we will forgive that.

Again, this is a well ordered collection of gags that includes enough touching, emotional moments to keep the story balanced and captivating. Gru makes a good hero in the end. The laughs do not stop until the credits. The story is not as deep as Kung Fu Panda (a masterpiece in the same genre), but it is so fun and so well made that the movie works more or less the same way.

A really nice job.

 

Despicable Me

2010

Story by Sergio Pablos
Screenplay by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul
Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

 
 
 

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Theatrical trailers and teasers. Take your pick:

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Behind the scene featurettes:

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Tags: action, characters, classic, comedy, despicable me, elsie fisher, family movie, julie andrews, masterpiece, movie review, movies, protagonist, review, scene, spoilers, steve carell, trailer, villain, weapons

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