Despicable Me 3D Movie Review

The animated film Despicable Me starts out with the theft of the Great Pyramid by upcoming geek criminal Vector. (Jason Segel) Not to be outdone, super villain Gru (Steve Carell) hatches a plan to steal the moon. But he needs funding and in one of the funniest sight gags this year, he seeks a loan from an evil bank whose old name will have you in stitches. It goes by fast, so pay attention. Gru pitches his plan to the banker. It requires Gru to shrink the moon. The banker won't offer the loan until Gru gets a shrink gun.

Gru gets the shrink gun from a secret base. But Vector steals it from him and takes the gun to his well protected futuristic home. Gru finds that he can't penetrate Vector's home. That it is until he sees three orphan sisters, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) gain entrance by making a cookie sale to Vector. Gru's gets an idea. Adopt the orphans and when they deliver the cookies, sneak in and steal the gun. Then fly to the moon and shrink it. Steal it. It all sounds good until the little girls melt his frosty exterior.

Steve Carell gives Gru a kind of Hungarian accent. And it seems the animators patterned Gru's motions around Carell. So his comic timing looks like Gru's actions. The girls are appropriately cute. Julie Andrews as Gru's mother is good but is wasted with little in dialogue. She really could have destroyed her nice girl image ala S.O.B. (1981)

Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul's screenplay is funny without the Shrek bombardment of pop culture references. Directors Pierre Coffin and Chirs Renaud give the movie a surreal look that breaks the mold. They also respect 3-D or 3D. What I mean by this, is that they realize that they are making the movie in this dimension. They fully utilize it or as they advertise it, in eye popping 3D. That means you the audience will get your money's worth. I hate it when filmmakers get snobby and deemphasize 3D. Then why make it in 3D? Here, they don't and it looks good. I also respect that they made a movie for the whole family, not just for little kids. The movie has a Looney Tunes vibe and will have adults laughing with the kids.

Despicable Me is one of the best animated films of the year. It's as funny as Get Him to the Greek , and a movie that the whole family will love. And by the way, his yellow Minions are a riot! Check 'em out in the trailer below. One last thing, stay through the credits for the Minions' jokes at the 3D craze. The grade is A.