When did animated movies start worrying more about the recognizable voices than engaging characters on screen?
The newest Dreamworks animated comedy, “Despicable Me,” stars Steve Carell as Gru, an evil super-villain who can steal anything from the Times Square Jumbotron to Las Vegas’ Statue of Liberty replica. He is aided by Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) and a bunch of adorable yellow minions.
When a newer, younger super-villain, Vector (Jason Segal), rivals Gru for bad guy supremacy Gru hatches a plan to steal the moon before Vector. Gru adopts three young girls so they can pose as girl scouts and distract Vector with cookies so Gru can sneak into Vectors house. When Gru becomes attached to the girls his plan and entire way of life come into question.
“Despicable Me” does have some things working for it. It was an original plot and good animation. Plus, have I mentioned that the minions are super awesome. They’re cute, they’re yellow, they’re funny, and they’re completely lovable. (If you haven’t seen the Despicable Me minion trailer, it’s hilarious.) They just might be the most enduring characters in the whole film. They are the real stars of the film and they don’t speak a word of dialog
The movie was cute but it didn’t have anything to pull the viewer in and engage them. I didn’t really care about any of the characters (with the exception of the minions) or what happened to them. Perhaps I’ve become to jaded to enjoy an animated kids movie. Or perhaps I’ve been too spoiled by better family-friendly cartoons like “Shrek” or this summer’s newest Disney/Pixar powerhouse “Toy Story 3.” Maybe it’s cause I grew up on Disney classics like “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin.”
“Despicable Me” was fine. And if you’re under 10 it was probably the greatest thing you’ve seen all year (or at least in the last month). If the studio had taken a bit more time on the script to make the characters … oh, I don’t know … interesting, instead of finding a cameo for Jack McBrayer and Danny McBribe, it could have been a lot better.
