Despicable Me’s co-director Pierre Coffin has an appropriate last name considering his film is about a man, Gru (Steve Carell), who aspires to be “the greatest villain of all time.” Not only is his name well suited, but his talents clearly are as well for, with the aid of his co-director Chris Renaud, the pair have created a quite brilliant work. The animated story of a man who plans to steal the Moon is ingenious in both its conception and execution. Relentlessly funny, its jokes bombard you aurally and visually at such a rate that it’s impossible to absorb them all. The rich humour is matched by the wondrous world that has been created and a genuine heart that beats strongly throughout.
Despicable Me blends the surreal with the everyday, the futuristic with the historic, but at its core is an emotion that is timeless and real. It’s a simple story of love, of good triumphing over evil and one man’s redemption. And while the premise might be familiar, the delivery is anything but. Full of invention and originality, it’s a film that absorbs you into its madcap sensibility from the outset and releases you reluctantly at the end, but not before it’s entranced and delighted.
Gru, whose long pointed nose and spindly legs conjure memories of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s rat catcher, enjoys his villainous reputation, one he cultivates at every opportunity. His schemes range from the small scale, like making a balloon dog for a little boy only to then pop it, to rather grander undertakings like stealing the Statue of Liberty. He carries out these projects with the aid of his assistant Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) and an army of little yellow bespectacled creatures known as Minions.
For the voice of Gru, Carell adopts a strong Eastern European accent, which he delivers with a malevolent sneer. He has acquired his wicked ways from his mother (Julie Andrews) and via flashback scenes to his childhood, it’s clear that everything Gru does is with the intention of gaining her approval. So when his supremacy as the world’s greatest villain is challenged by the nerdy Vector (Jason Segal), he comes up with a plan to steal the Moon, a task he is only able to achieve by reducing it to a more manageable size courtesy of the powerful Shrink Ray that both he and Vector are after.
Gru’s plans start unraveling when he finds himself looking after three little orphan girls. Having initially taken Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) from Miss Hattie’s Home for Girls in order to use them in his nefarious scheme, he slowly begins to warm to their charms. He finds their exuberance, joyfulness and affection annoying at first, but in time Gru’s once cold heart starts melting.
The world of Despicable Me is a fully evolved vision, one vivid in colour and ideas. Gru’s vehicles are straight out of a Jules Verne novel as science fiction meets Heath Robinson in the various contraptions Gru and Vector develop. All exist in a suburban landscape that makes their compatibility incongruous. At times tender but never sentimental, always hysterical, Despicable Me is a fast, and fun action-packed roller coaster ride. Indeed at one point we experience a simulated one to great effect thanks to the film’s restrained but creative use of 3-D. This is never exercised better than with the closing credits which exemplify the fact that this film doesn’t waste a moment, squeezing in jokes and ideas to the very end.
Kevin Murphy
