Despicable Me in 3D

Weapons of Mass Destruction

This marks Steve Carell's second foray into providing his voice for animated features, the earlier one having to share the limelight with Jim Carrey in Horton Hears a Who some two years ago. Now he's the head honcho in providing the voice for the lead character Gru, a mediocre villain out to attempt his next big diabolical project, if only he can secure funding for it. Yes, even the bad guys do get their off days, and business proposals are necessary for financing their dastardly deeds.

However, the story here balances Gru's bullying of children, by having 3 children adopted by him if not as a small step toward achieving his goal. But in a reversal here, these 3 kids are just about to teach him what it takes to be a good guy, and an awesome dad. Which of course contravenes every single DNA of his being, with dreams of being the top dog in the evil underworld.

3D animation wise, this film has its action sequences carefully crafted to exploit every depth of field and pointy edge that it can, so I'll put in almost on par with How To Train Your Dragon, another 3D animated film I thought had worked amongst the slew of duds to have come out (Shrek Forever After, anyone?) Story-wise, it does pale in comparison to Dragons, and of course Toy Story 3, but it does have its moments that will make you tear, or laugh uncontrollably with the wickedly placed contemporary references and sight gags.

But the scene stealer here is not the story, nor the animation or the effects, but those crazy yellow coloured minions who work for Gru, decked in overalls and safety goggles, and possess a certain degree of indestructibility and comedy. They are the new Madagascar Penguins, likely to be given a spin off on their own since they just about steals the thunder from everything else in the movie. That's how powerful these creatures in the hundreds are, holding your attention span, and beefing up the narrative with their antics. Mark my words, these small little dudes are huge in potential!

You can read my review of Despicable Me at movieXclusive.com by clicking on the logo below.