Movie Review: Despicable Me

When things are going badly at the office, it's nice to have a loving family to come home to. But what if you're an evil genuis bent on destroying the world and family is just another sign of weakness? This is the problem that faces Gru, a would-be dastardly dictator in Universal's new film "Despicable Me."

Steve Carell voices Gru, an old timer in the villain business. You can tell he's a bad guy because he drives a huge tank-SUV thingie and has furniture made out of endangered animals. Plus, he doesn't keep his lawn nice.

Gru and his hordes of giggling, bumbling, incomprehensible minions (who look to me like Veggietales characters) are planning something big, really really big. Seriously. Big. Any day now.

Gru is mildly successful as an evil CEO. He knows all the minons' names, even though they are forgettable names like Larry, Bob and Sam. He can give a rousing pep talk at the company rally. He's pretty good at schmoozing the villain bank for loans. (By far the most evil person in the film is the bank president, reflective of our national anger at the banking industry and its role in creating our poor economy. But that's another essay all together.)

Despite Gru's corporate people skills, the shareholders aren't  happy. He has few results to show for his efforts, unless you count stealing the Times Square jumbotron as deviously sinister.

As Gru's callous mother never fails to point out, he's at the bottom of the list of powerful villains, below Lindsay Lohan and the guy who doesn't rinse out his cans before putting them in the recycling.

His rival, Vector (Jason Segel) has gone and shown everyone up by stealing a pyramid from Egypt. Vector, who is the Mac to Gru's PC, lives in a sleek IKEA castle with lots of organic curves and white minimalism. He doesn't even have a lawn to let go. Instead, he has this super cool glass floor with a shark tank under it. Show off.

When Vector shows a weakness for coco-nutty cookies, sold by three little orphan girls, Gru senses his moment of opportunity. Adopting them is the easy part. Getting them to cooperate with his sinister (well, sinister-ish) plans is the hard part. So he leaves a bowl of candy on the floor for food and goes back to his eeevil laboratory. The girls, being curious, adorable orphans and all, soon infiltrate every nook of his lair and set sights on his heart.

The humor in this film is spot on, reminiscent of an extended Bugs Bunny cartoon. It's a fun, bizarro world where a blackened Gru crawls out from a crater in the sidewalk after being hit by about 150 of Vector's heat seeking missles. It's merely a flesh wound, forgotten seconds later.

Someone on the team clearly has kids, because the three little girls act like children and not wisecracking adults. I would have liked to have seen even more of these delightful girls who splash in puddles, sing to themselves when falling asleep, and hope for illogical houses made of gummy bears. Edith, upon breaking some nefarious device, steps to the side, puts up big puppy dog eyes and avoids responsibility, saying "That broke," when she knows Gru saw her do it.

It's like they're in my house.

With so many films being released in 3D with no extra benefit for the extra money except sore noses from the glasses, this one actually lives up to the 3D promise. In fact, it's the best use of 3D since Avatar, with some of the action practically coming into your lap.

The audience knows from the start how the romance between Gru and fatherhood will end, but it's a fun ride getting there. While this film doesn't have the heart of Toy Story 3, it wraps up with a sweet little nod to family that will satisfy both parents and kids.