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Despicable Me

Buzz says:   MPAA Rating: PG
Current Showtimes:

Goodrich Savoy 16 Theater

• 12:05pm
• 2:20
• 4:35

As Disney continues to churn out “Pixar Classics” (with the cinematic juggernaut that is Toy Story 3), the folks over at Illumination Entertainment (Universal Studios owned) make their first foray into the land of 3D-animated blockbusters with Despicable Me.

Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, the film’s main protagonist Gru (Steve Carell) spends his days reaping joy from the miseries of others. He makes animal balloons for children, only to pop them before their eyes. He uses a gas guzzling tank/spaceship that would make even the faintest of tree huggers cry -- to wreak havoc on the streets, cutting off elderly drivers as he makes his way to his suburban neighborhood and threatens to kill his neighbor’s dogs if it continues to dump on his lawn.

Such is the plight of an aspiring villain. But upon hearing news that an Egyptian pyramid (yes, an actual pyramid) has been stolen, Gru attempts to one-up this spectacle with an even loftier one: stealing the moon.

On the other side are Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elie Fisher), cute little door-to-door salesgirls who are determined to sell their quota of cookies if they want to avoid the wrath of their orphanage’s supervisor who resembles a pissed-off Paula Deen (if Deen were Brunette and would cut your balls off if you didn’t make her profits). When Gru finds a way to fit these girls into his schemes of world notoriety, he adopts them.

Despite the borrowed themes from past animated films, Despicable Me avoids clichés by injecting sharply written comedy. Almost every frame brings the hilarity; from fart jokes to 007 parodies, Gru’s bite-sized minions (whom he introduces as his “cousins”) serve as the girls’ babysitters as well as the source of many laughs.

At its core, the film explores the conflicts (and joys) of parenthood. Gru, who suffers from a loveless mother (and a missing father), is clueless at juggling the demands of being both a dad and a super villain: should he work on building a rocket or read the girls a bed time story to put them to sleep? Should he steal the moon or make it to his girls’ school ballet? It’s endearing to watch as Gru stumbles through these questions, transitioning from child to father, villain to hero. This all leads to a pivotal scene where Gru reads his girls’ a bed time story that connects his fragmented childhood to theirs.

As most good films, Despicable Me is a reflection of our times. In an era where right-wring, “pro-family” activists push “one mother, one father” as the only standard for a healthy family environment, Coffin/Renaud embraces a new kind of family. While the film starts with three girls, tucked in the bedroom of their orphanage, dreaming of a family that had a pretty wife, a pet unicorn, and a house made of gummy bears, it ends with a family of four elevated from a sea of cookie-cutter suburban houses in perfect view of the stars and the moon. Sometimes, the most unlikely men make the best fathers, and heroes.