Despicable Me – Terrible Me (2010)

Directed by: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, Sergio Pablos | 90 minutes | animation, family | Original voice cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Julie Andrews, Jason Segel, Miranda Cosgrove, Will Arnett, Ken Jeong, Danny McBride, Russell Brand, Mindy Kaling, Jemaine Clement, Jack McBrayer, Rob Huebel, Elsie Fisher, Dana Gaier | Dutch voice cast: Jon van Eerd, Eddy Zoëy, Ernst Daniël Smid, Sanne Wallis de Vries, Javier Guzman, Patricia Paay, Pip Pellens

Animated movies are nowhere without a good villain. Disney created a lot of memorable bad guys. Just take the witch from ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ (1937), ‘Cruella De Ville’ from ‘101 Dalmatians’ and Uncle Scar from ‘The Lion King’. They left an unforgettable impression. Partly due to the developments at the leading Pixar, villains in animated films are becoming more and more layered. With the bitter restaurant critic Anton Ego in ‘Ratatouille’, the villain suddenly became human. Illumination Entertainment, the new animation arm of Universal led by Chris Meledandri (the man behind the ‘Ice Age’ series), takes a different approach and even turns the villain into the hero. In ‘Despicable Me’ (2010), Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) tries to make history by performing a villainy that no one else has ever done before: he wants to steal the moon.

Gru has to, too, as his villainous status is under serious strain now that a young, vicious and sneaky competitor has appeared on the scene. This Vector (Jason Segel) is well on his way to becoming the greatest villain ever, especially after stealing the Egyptian pyramids. Gru wants to put a stop to it at all costs. Stealing the moon, using a shrink machine, is the ultimate chance to put Vector in his place. Gru has only one problem: the shrink machine is in the hands of his rival. And then he turns out to be harassed by three orphans who try to sell him cookies. But Gru is not fooled: he devises a plan where the girls can help him steal the shrinking machine. However, he has not taken into account that he might become attached to the three girls…

With ‘Despicable Me’, Illumination Entertainment immediately puts itself on the map as a competitor for Disney/Pixar and DreamWorks. The film looks neat, funny and a lot bolder than its counterparts. The humor is sharper, which is refreshing. Gru is no friend to children, the little girls initially only get in his way. In fact, he’s very self-centered: when he doesn’t feel like queuing up at a store, he takes his freeze gun and makes icicles out of the people in front of him. Steve Carell has turned this Gru into a wonderfully grim figure, complete with an indefinable Eastern European accent. Of course Gru didn’t just become the man he is today and that has a lot to do with his demanding mother (voiced by, yes, Julie Andrews). In fact, he’s not such a bad guy at all; he just has an enormous urge to prove. How the plot around Gru and the three orphaned girls will unfold can be guessed in advance, but the way it is being worked towards this is very amusing.

This is in large part due to the great characters that pass in review. Gru gets support from hundreds of little yellow men, the minions, who provide a lot of comic moments (be sure to stay seated during the credits!). His genius sidekick is called Dr. Nefario (voiced by Russell Brand), an ancient inventor who is as deaf as a quail and moves around headquarters by scooter. ‘Despicable Me’ is not only full of fun characters, there are also a lot of funny references in the film (eg Gru tries to borrow money from the ‘Bank of Evil – Formerly Lehmann Brothers’). It makes ‘Despicable Me’ a film that certainly also – or perhaps especially – makes it suitable for adults.

With every animated film that comes out, a comparison with Pixar’s impressive oeuvre is inevitable. Although ‘Despicable Me’ cannot yet match the level of those animation masters, newcomer Illumination Entertainment shows that it is a formidable competitor for the established order in the world of animation film. On some fronts, the film still lags somewhat behind ‘Toy Story 3’ (2010) – it is less surprising and the level of animation is simply less high – but in terms of entertainment content ‘Despicable Me’ hardly falls short. for the absolute top. The level of animation films continues to rise and that is not only limited to the masters of Pixar: a nice development!