Movie Review: Despicable Me

Film Credits
Release Date: July 9, 2010
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
Screenwriter: Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio
Starring: Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Danny McBride, Miranda Cosgrove, Jack McBrayer, Mindy Kaling, Jemaine Clement, Julie Andrews
Genre: Animation, Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG (for rude humor and mild action)
Official Website: Despicable.me

The Dastardly Evil Plot
Imagine if you will, a beautiful neighborhood filled with colorful homes and joyful families where people live their daily lives in that typical happy Hollywood family style. Now imagine that in the middle of all this perfection is a dark, cobwebbed house with a dark cloud hanging over it and a dead lawn. This is the home of Gru, (Steve Carell) a lanky, large headed and long-nosed villain who has plans to become the greatest villain of all time by stealing the Moon. (Yes, I said the moon, crazy huh?) With the help of his minions, Gru develops a plan that will allow him to accomplish this plot which will finally boost him up on a pedestal of sheer villainy that no evil-doer will ever be able to master for years to come.
But wait, what’s this? A new villain by the name of Vector has stolen an Egyptian Pyramid and now claims the he will steal the moon and take Gru’s triumph as greatest villain of all time. Through a series of trials and tribulations, Gru attempts to put a stop to this new-comer as his whiney, teenager-ish ways. But our devilish fiend runs into three little Orphaned girls that may just increased the size of Gru’s heart and change him forever. (Oh, crap, did I just give away the entire film? Sorry!)

My Diabolically Sinister Opinion

There seems to be a huge gap between a Pixar animated film and everyone else. Every animation studio tries so hard to meet the animation and story-telling quality of Pixar but never quite gets there. Despicable Me runs into this same little problem where it doesn’t quite meet the standards that animated feature films have been trying to achieve ever since Pixar took over the world as the animation masters. While some aspects of Despicable Me are very amusing and fun to watch, my overall reaction to the film was that it tried a little too hard.

The Good
The premise of the film’s story is great; two villains go at it tooth and nail and try to become a greatest villain of all time, but are hindered by their immature and childish ways. It almost has a hint of the old Merry Melodies “Roadrunner and Coyote” cartoons, where Gru’s constant attempts at breaking an entering are foiled by Vector’s ridiculously hilarious booby traps.

Both Vector and Gru seemed compelled to be villains due to their parents. Gru’s mother always seemed to be disappointed in his ambitions which he constantly seem to dwell on, where as Vector was too oblivious too notice his father’s disapproval. It’s obvious that of the two, Gru was the more intelligent villain, but Gru’s weakness was his mother and it got in the way of everything he did. Behind that dark and gothic exterior was a tormented little boy whose developing years was met by a disapproving and unimpressed mother, (played by the famous Julie Andrews) and Gru’s way of coping with this was his villainous demeanor.

Screenwriters Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio gave the script an added bonus with the three orphan girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes who eventually tug at the Gru’s heart strings. This orphan trio provides a witty addition to the film giving us the intelligent and more academic child, the pain in the butt child, and the “cute-as-can-be” child, all of which have lovable and despicable characteristics. But this girly trifecta teaches Gru that the desire to be famous should never overshadow the desire to love, which was something he lacked as a boy.

The plot progression was good, but the film’s highlights were the fantastic performance by Steve Carell whose talents as a voice actor are becoming more and more well known. But I was completely shocked by the fact that Russell Brand (forgetting Sarah Marshall, Bedtime Stories) voiced the slow moving assistant of Gru. I think I’ve become a fan of Brand’s potential as an actor with this film! And of course, the lone actor Pierre Coffin’s performance all the minions was absolutely brilliant.

The Bad

I understand that this is a kid’s movie and a lot of what we may like in the more adult films will not be within a family animated film such as this, but I did wonder if the movie could have given us a little less depth and a little more of the old cartoon humor.

The film’s overdose in clever one-liners and emotional draining scenes left me a little worn out. Even with my appeal to the heart tugging relationship Gru had with his mother, the bulk of the film felt a little overdone in the emotional department.

The trailers (or trailer, singular) that I had seen had led me to believe this film was going to be a truly despicable film, meaning the majority of laughter would come from Gru’s antics and “despicable” behavior. But Gru came off as more of a pathetic villain whose cleverness came out only in the first five to ten minutes. I understand the need for sentimentality and having some type of moral compass to direct the film for children, but I truly was hoping for a story that was based around Gru’s constant despicable errands that displayed within its trailer. Instead, we are presented with a sappy, moralistic sentimentality driven story that drags the film way down. I’m sure parents and kids will love it for that very reason, but not I. I guess that will teach me to have pre-conceived notions about a film’s story huh?

For reasons that I cannot explain, I felt the entire film lingered on and on with nothing to grab onto. The story had all of its formulaic components, the bad guy, the good guy, the twist, the humor, etc etc, but it didn’t seem to work as well as it could have. This probably has to do with Director’s Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin not taken full advantage of the story they were given. I wanted Gru to be much more sinister and intelligent than he was, but the writers and directors (or maybe Universal Studios decided to be dumb and make this very bad decision that pinned the movie makers in a corner) decided to go a different route that did not suit the film’s premise.

My Despicable Conclusion
With the mixture of overdone emotion and cleverness, the film came off as a failed attempt at bringing in all ages; there seemed to be a very unbalanced level of humor and emotion that did not work for me. And with this film’s rating of PG for rude humor and mild action, I was hoping for something a little more mature and fun in it’s overall content and story.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Cinematic Excursions: Film Releases For The May 21st Weekend

Here we are, another big movie opening weekend.  The two big name films out this weekend is the 4th installment in the Shrek franchise and the Saturday Night Live hit short, MacGruber.  I'll be on the road this weekend to see my brother-in-law graduate from high school so there won't be any trips to the movies for me this weekend.  But everyone else should enjoy the end of school and take a trip to the movies, there's something for everyone...

Release Date: May 21, 2010 (3D/2D theaters and IMAX 3D) 
Studio: DreamWorks Animation 
Director: Mike Mitchell 
Screenwriter: Josh Klausner, Darren Lemke 
Starring: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Jon Hamm, Kathy Griffin, Kristen Schaal Genre: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy 
MPAA Rating: PG (for mild action, some rude humor and brief language) 
Official Website: Shrek.com 
Review: 7/10 rating | 6/10 rating 


Plot Summary: Shrek is feeling over-domesticated in the fourth installment. He has lost his roar. It used to send villagers running away in terror. Now they run to him and ask him to sign their pitchforks and torches. To regain his ogre mojo, he strikes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin. The pact goes awry and Shrek must confront what life would be like in Far Far Away if he had never existed. That translates into Donkey being forced into cart-pulling duty, fat and lazy Puss in Boots trading his sword for a pink bow and the underhanded Rumpelstiltskin ruling the kingdom. 
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Release Date: May 21, 2010 
Studio: Rogue Pictures (Universal) 
Director: Jorma Taccone Screenwriter: Will Forte, John Solomon, Jorma Taccone Starring: Will Forte, Ryan Phillippe, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe,Maya Rudolph Genre: Action, Comedy 
MPAA Rating: R (for strong crude and sexual content, violence, language and some nudity) 
Official Website: IAmRogue.com/MacGruber 


Plot Summary: Only one American hero has earned the rank of Green Beret, Navy SEAL and Army Ranger. Just one operative has been awarded 16 purple hearts, 3 Congressional Medals of Honor and 7 presidential medals of bravery. And only one guy is man enough to still sport a mullet. In 2010, Will Forte brings "Saturday Night Live's" clueless soldier of fortune to the big screen in the action comedy "MacGruber."

In the 10 years since his fiancée was killed, special op MacGruber has sworn off a life of fighting crime with his bare hands. But when he learns that his country needs him to find a nuclear warhead that's been stolen by his sworn enemy, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), MacGruber figures he's the only one tough enough for the job.

Assembling an elite team of experts--Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) and Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig)--MacGruber will navigate an army of assassins to hunt down Cunth and bring him to justice. His methods may be unorthodox. His crime scenes may get messy. But if you want the world saved right, you call in MacGruber. 

Other Film Releases
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Click on the film title for more information

180 South: Conquerors of the Useless

After The Cup

Holy Rollers

John Rabe

Kites

Perrier's Bounty

Racing Dreams

Solitary man

Movie Review: How To Train Your Dragon

Directed by Dean Debois & Chris Sanders

Screenplay by Dean Debois

Based on the children’s story by Cressida Cowell

Duration 90 Minutes 

Rated PG

My Wonderfully Majestic Opinion

When it comes to animated films, my unacceptability of predictable plotlines diminishes about 50%.  The target audience is obviously children, but with the current popularity of animated films among adults, a secondary audience is kept in mind during the screenwriting process.  To write a completely predictable script is good for the kids, but not so good for the adults. (Unless you like that sort of thing) In turn, something else must be added in order to meet the adult’s entertainment needs.  How to Train Your Dragon combines children and adult appeal for a unique and interesting approach to the typical dragon adventure tale.

The set up isn’t anything we are unfamiliar with.  We have our main character, Hiccup (who’s probably the same age as your middle school child who sat next to you) who doesn’t quite fit in much to the dismay of his father, Stoick who indecently is the leader of this Viking tribe.  Within a mere ten minute segment, we are shown Hiccup’s desire to achieve his father’s approval and to win over the acceptance of the whole tribe through a blood thirsty dragon battle in the village.  Hiccup’s adventure begins as he accidentally takes down the most feared dragon of all, a Night Furry.  Hiccup develops a relationship with this beast and begins to realize that the Viking hatred towards dragons is unfounded and begins his self-appointed task to show the rest of his Viking comrades the error of their ways.  Thus we have the tale of the outsider taking a stance against the norm and becoming the hero at the climax of the story.

Somewhere in the middle of the film, Hiccup claims to see a lot of himself in his new found dragon friend, whom he has named Toothless.  A series of events occurs to help support this claim where, ultimately, both characters have lost something which is essential to their mobility.  I wasn’t convinced in the actuality of Toothless and Hiccup being connected in this way; rather I saw it as Hiccup looking for something within the Night Fury that he could relate too.  Whether it be an actual relatable trait or something Hiccup unconsciously made up in his own mind is what I question.  Never the less, the point is still made clear that this film is all about facing yourself, or to coin the phrase “to face your dragons.”  Since Hiccup saw a lot of himself in Toothless, he sought a way to help the injured creature, which in turn gave him an unconscious reason to help himself.  The title, “How to Train your Dragon,” does not actually refer to the literal and the obvious.  This film is all about facing oneself and holding true to your moral convictions and your goals in life, despite the fact that everyone around you holds no faith in what you wish to achieve.  While this concept is quite over played in the cartoon movie world, it is portrayed better in this film than any animated film I’ve seen to date.

The animation quality in this film could be compared to that of Pixar. There was a definite attention to detail that DreamWorks Animation Studios has lacked in previous films.  The variety in atmospheres and landscapes was incredibly impressive as we went from a small hometown Viking village, to falling through forest landscapes,  flying through cloudy blue skies, sailing across beautiful oceanic scenery, and finally battling at a fiery volcanic island where plant life is replaced by rubble and ash.  The attention to those specific details went above and beyond what I’ve come to expect from a DreamWorks animated film.  But even on the much smaller scale, the attempt at making each and every dragon uniquely different was fantastically achieved.  There were dragons that resembled, fish, dogs, cats, insects and amphibians and this cannot be thrown out as an easy task, giving every featured dragon its own defining features and recognizable attributes, including specific voice inflections.  These detail oriented aspects of the dragons are clear cut reminders that each animal species is very diversified and unique in every way, while at the same time maintaining a unified set of instincts.

Now with all the greatness that this film brought to the screen, there was one minor distractions that made me chuckle.  Take for instance that no one had ever seen a Night Fury, yet for some reason the Vikings knew exactly what the creature looked like once Toothless appeared to them for the first time.  I thought back to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast during this moment, how in the world did they know the Beast lived up in the castle on the dark and gothic hill when that moment when Belle returned was the first they had heard of the Beast?  I can only assume that, like most fantasy tales, this is one of its unexplainable attributes that the audience is supposed to accept and forget about…but I can’t.

There was, of course, the very formulaic plot progression that I actually laid out for my wife prior to seeing the film, it’s that predictable.  This led to a conversation about the predictability of all feel-good, family oriented animated films which caused me to ask myself why I go see cartoon movies when I know exactly what’s going to happen.  The answer…it’s the animation.  Having grown up wanting to be a Disney or a Pixar artist/animation technician, the artistry of animated films is what grabs me.  This film did a masterful job at creating visually likeable characters, emotional and recognizable faces, beautiful sceneries, and amazing special effects.  The story itself was applied very well to the film, but the events throughout the story were annoyingly predictable.  It’s the artwork that is worth its weight in gold here.

My Awe-Struck Conclusion

Most dragon films have to deal with the simple fact that, due to their size, demeanor, and unrelatable characteristics, they aren’t the most successful films to be made.  Human characters have to be brought in that serve no purpose accept to be there for the climatic final battle with the “ultimate” dragon.  Even in the film “Dragon Heart,” there is an ineffective message due to the exceptionally difficult task of making a film about dragons.  “How to Train your Dragon” does something that no other dragon film has done before.  Despite the fact that the dragons cannot speak, this film gives the dragons a voice in the story.

Rating 8.5 out of 10 stars