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Despicable Me

  • Film
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Despicable Me.jpg
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Time Out says

3 out of 5 stars

Hollywood’s cartoon villains have always been more fun than their heroic adversaries, so it’s hardly surprising that two major animated movies this year have chosen to focus on the bad guys. But while forthcoming Will Ferrell/Brad Pitt vehicle ‘Megamind’ promises to be an all-out satirical assault on comic-book cliché, ‘Despicable Me’ is a cosy, old-fashioned affair, eschewing the current fashion for smug, ‘Shrek’-style cynicism in favour of a cockle-warming redemption story.

Steve Carell

is the voice of Gru, a suburban supervillain whose seemingly innocuous wood-frame semi sits above a vast underground lair populated by hordes of spiky, yellow and predictably braindead minions. As befits a family-friendly baddie, Gru’s acts of evil extend to freeze-raying passers-by and attempting to steal the moon rather than actual abduction or murder. Which means that when he adopts three adorable tow-headed orphan girls – for purposes of subterfuge too convoluted to go into here – it’s not long before their plucky charm and winning optimism begin to melt his cold, cold heart.

 Characterisation is the movie’s strong suit: Carell’s bizarre mittel-European accent threatens to make Gru a tough sell, but when his three well-defined and loveable charges enter the picture this irascible, prickly exterior becomes more transparent. There’s solid support, too:

Russell Brand

goes full cockernee as techno-wizard Dr Nefarious, while

Julie Andrews

makes a brief but memorable turn as Gru’s domineering mother. What the film lacks, ironically, is a decent bad guy:

Jason Segel

’s preening, Bill Gates-inspired Vector is more annoying than evil, and while

Will Arnett

makes an impression as Mr Perkins, president of the Bank of Evil (formerly Lehman Brothers), his character is frustratingly underexplored.

As a US production written and directed by a team of Spaniards and Frenchmen, ‘Despicable Me’ has an agreeable, mid-Atlantic feel, its style sitting somewhere between ‘Bolt’ and ‘Belleville Rendez-Vous’. With visits to Paris, the Pyramids and the moon, the film’s plot may be a little overcrowded, but that doesn’t prevent ‘Despicable Me’ from being one of the year’s most likeable family entertainments.

Written by Tom Huddleston

Release Details

  • Rated:U
  • Release date:Friday 15 October 2010
  • Duration:95 mins

Cast and crew

  • Director:Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud
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