Despicable Me Revisit: Huh...Not Really a Despicable Movie
Copyright © Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment
Title: Despicable Me
Director: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
Release Date: July 9, 2010
Another upcoming movie sequel, another revisit. Illumination's Despicable Me 4 is releasing on July 3 which is in two weeks. For the revisits right now, we will take a look back at the past Despicable Me films and see if they aged well or not. Let's start things off easy with Despicable Me, the first film of the series, which was the start of Illumination themselves. Released back in July of 2010, the movie unexpectedly got a positive reputation. It grossed $543.6 million worldwide, earning the tenth spot of 2010's highest grossing movies, and winning numerous awards for being one of the best animated movies of that year. Both critics and audiences praised it for its characters, humor, story, themes, and style. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 80% critic score joined with an 83% audience score, along with a 7.6/10 rating on IMDb and scores of 72 (metascore) and 7.6 (user score) on Metacritic. Furthermore, it even became a franchise of its own, spawning three sequels and two prequels to get nourish the company itself. As Illumination mixes a redemption story with charming humor and heartwarming themes, Despicable Me is not what you call a "despicable" film after all.
Summary
Gru (Steve Carell), an experienced supervillain, creates a plan of stealing the moon. His preparation includes a bunch of small yellow minions and tons of weaponry. However, his world is turned upside down when he adopts three orphan girls, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher), who turn him into a loving dad with a secret agent identity.
Reasons
Despicable Me did well by incorporating likable characters, balanced story, and heartwarming themes that get one all snuggled up. First of all, seeing how the characters are cute and likable contribute to how the franchise got so successful all of a sudden. Gru, the main protagonist (and anti-hero), starts off as a supervillain until he learned that helping others, especially his adopted daughters, are better than doing villainy. The most notable part, the Minions (Pierre Coffin), are mischievous yet adorable supporting characters who became the driving force of both the franchise and Illumination. This is to the point where the company used the Minions in their logos for every movie they create. Going further, the story may be simple but has some unexpected twists and turns to make the story more enjoyable. Basically, it is a whole redemption arc which is a creative idea for a children's animated movie, along with adding the adoption and the annoyingly cute yellow creatures in it. One time, it is action-packed and exciting. The next, it is wholesome enough to melt one's heart into pieces. Before moving on, it has a lot of themes that are soft and soul-stirring, like change, loyalty, and family. They are efficient to creating a villain redemption story that the whole family can like. All throughout the movie, it uses a lot of change and family to encourage Gru's character arc to grow.
In the movie Despicable Me, it also harbors decent animation, snappy humor, and a boppy soundtrack. Commence, although it does not look the best, this was great enough for Illumination's start on animation. All of the character designs, especially the Minions, are simple but diverse and creative. Illumination did get the grudge to unexpectedly provide a marketable creature to lead the company. Alongside, the settings look decent for its time, due to its down-to-earth appearances and colorful palette. Next, unlike most animated films from the 2010s, it uses jokes that are enough to make one laugh. Most of the humor is comical dialogue but it also includes well-written toilet humor and suggestive jokes. Luckily, this is one of the few animated movies that knows how to write good toilet humor, as it does not use nonsensical poop jokes or anything similar. As the final thing to talk about for the strengths altogether, the soundtrack is catchy and fun, notably for Pharrell Williams composing the vocal songs. Its main titular theme, "Despicable Me," is a rap track that has some villain-like charm and cinematic undertones in the background. As it plays, the movie fits well with Gru's narrative. Even the score by Heitor Pereira (known for Madagascar and Curious George) is nice to listen to.
Since it may not be an award-worthy movie, Despicable Me does have some villain-ish problems in its writing and visuals. What is distinguishable from the movie's sequels is that the animation, for the first movie's case, is dated because it lacks a lot of motion blur. However, this can be justifiable for how it is Illumination's first film ever. In addition, there are also some confusing parts in the lore, even though its logic is meant to be cartoony and wacky. For those who are trying to understand its world, it would be hard to watch at times because of how there is no explanation to why something is happening. Finally, the movie can get childish at times, especially with the humor (like its underwear joke) and how it is not so climactic. Compared to Illumination's other movies, it improves with its drama in its plot points, especially with Sing 2 and the like.
Conclusion
Finishing up, Despicable Me's villain redemption arc and heartwarming nature proves to not be so "despicable" after all. The main thing that skyrocketed the franchise and Illumination altogether was the characters, especially the Minions, for being likable and adorable for everyone. Its story, embedded with comforting themes of change, loyalty, and family, can go action-packed at first and then heartwarming afterwards. Although it does not look so stylish or impressive, the animation is a great start to Illumination's legacy. As additions, the humor and soundtrack are fun for the whole family to enjoy the movie. There might be better movies out there. However, if you would like to wait for the fourth installment to theatrically come out, this is not a despicable pick!
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