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DESPICABLE ME

Despicable Me is a Universal Studios movie directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud. It is written by Ken Daurio, Sergio Pablos, and Cinco Paul with voice-over of Steve Carrell as Gru, Jason Segel as Vector, Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario, Julie Andrews as Gru's mom, Kristen Wiig as Miss Hattie, Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, Dana Gaier as Edith, and Elsie Fisher as Agnes.

Despicable Me is about a man named Gru, who is the world's greatest villain until a young new villain named Vector steals the pyramids of Egypt. This antagonizes Gru, so he decides to hold his reputation by stealing the moon by using a shrink ray and a rocket. The only problem is Vector has the shrink ray which he stole from Gru, which Gru stole from the East Asia company. While Gru is spying on Vector's house, he sees three orphan girls delivering cookies for Vector. Gru immediately comes up with the perfect plan to steal the shrink ray: He adopts the three girls and has them deliver cookies to his house, and at the same time, Gru sneaks into the house to steal the shrink ray. His plan goes accordingly. As his minions (assistants) build the rocket for him to go to the moon, Gru forms a bond with his three new adopted daughters: Margo, Edith, and Agnes and they view Gru as the perfect father. Now, Gru has to choose between pursuing his dream of stealing the moon or going to his daughters' dance recital, since both important events are on the same day. Will Gru maintain his title of being the world's greatest villain or were Margo, Edith, and Agnes sweet enough to persuade Gru's cold heart to go to their dance recital?

The technical aspects of the movie are superb. The animation of the movie is very lifelike. For example, the reflections of the characters looking at themselves in the windows and the foggy gray vivid smoke coming out of Gru's automobile. I also found the voice-over of the characters to be effective. The voice-over contains a lot of emotions and clearly portrayed the characters in the movie.
However, the storyline of the movie is very silly.

The message of the movie did not quite work out for me. I believe the message is that the coldest of hearts can be changed, but I did not find Gru to be a mean man. Several scenes portray him more as a failure. From his childhood, Gru has been put down by his mother, until now when the bank would not even give him a loan to build a rocket for him to steal the moon.

I recommend this movie to children ages 9 and up because the movie uses a lot of big words that some children may not understand. For example, despicable, malicious, the movie mentions a formula about mass, etc. However, the movie is a laugh out loud animated comedy, and you will find yourself giggling in most scenes. It is very funny and sweet and generally for everyone! Review by Gabriella Chu, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 14

see Youth review.

Vying for the title of "World's Greatest Villain", Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) - along with his hilarious crew of mischievous minions - plots to pull off the craziest crime of the century: steal the moon! But when Gru enlists the help of three little girls, they see something in him nobody else has ever seen: the perfect dad. From executive producer Chris Meledandri (Horton Hears a Who, Ice Age), and featuring the voices of an all-star comedic cast, including Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove and Julie Andrews, Despicable Me is "rousingly funny, heartfelt and imaginative" (Pete Hammond, Box office Magazine).