Despicable Me Film Review

Initial Thoughts

            When this film first came out, I didn't think anything of it to be honest, I thought that it was just another average family comedy. It looked harmless enough, the trailer made it look like it had some good humor and some funny and good characters. And it was right, the character development was half decent, and the humor was great for the most part, but what made it great was the charm. It had so much charm, its not even funny, but where does the charm come from? lets dive right in and find out!

Story: 18 out of 25

            This is again one of those films that the story relies heavily on the characters. in this case, it relies on Gru and Vector, the two main antagonist and protagonist. both of which are developed extremely well. these two pretty much bring every plot device into the film either in-directly or directly.

            The story in general is a pretty generic super villain, super hero flick. Some may say, are you kidding me! it is totally different, but if you think about it, the film follows roughly the same story elements as a super hero film would. a good guy and bad guy are rivals for some reason, and the bad guy is trying to do something horrible and the good guy is trying to stop him. the difference in this film is that its two bad guys going after the same thing, however one of them was clearly meant to play the "good guy" role.

            However overall, it does give a fresh change from your average super hero film, and breaths a little bit of fresh air into the whole genre.

Characters: 21 out of 25

            Okay, obviously one of the most important things in a comedy are the characters, and for the most part they do hold up pretty well. Sure a few of them are under-played, (not necessarily under-developed), but for the most part, they are well developed, have tons of charm, and provide great humor and laughs throughout the entire film.

            This is where all of that great charm comes from to me, just of how well the characters were; written, and voice acted. the different interactions, and plot devices that each character provides much of the humor. each character will interact with a different situations different, using his or her own unique recurring  plot device.

            Overall very well done characters, both in writing, and acting.

Comedy Aspects: 25 out of 25

            If there's one thing this movie gets right, its the comedy. It is clear they took lots of time writing the humor for Despicable Me. Most of the comedy is centered around over exaggeration, everything being bigger then it normally is, and with all of those great funny characters, what could be funnier?

            the dialogue is perfectly written to fit each character. and when the film wants you to hate a character, you hate the character. in addition this film gets the core element of comedy correct, and that is, "in comedy, someone has to suffer". and all throughout the film, someone (or sometimes multiple people) are suffering.

            This is one film, that will have you laughing hard, all throughout.

Villain (Villains?): 25 out of 25

            Again, one aspect that needs to be addressed. this is one part of the plot i love, the fact that Gru wants to be the worlds greatest villain, yet continually keeps doing good things. He never really seems to be all that bad of a guy, (SPOLIERS) and even if he did get away with stealing the moon, I don't think anyone would know what he would do with it. we all know what vector would do with it, he would probably just make it into a decoration like he did with the pyramid.

            This creates great tensions between Gru and himself, and Gru and Dr. Nefario. And in addition, makes him into a more three dimensional character.

And so finally, The final verdict for the smash hit: Despicable Me is

89/100

Fantastic

Great humor, interesting and hilarious plot devices, absolutely great characters, and tons of charm, this is a lot more then just an average family comedy, like I first thought it was going to be. The only thing holding it back is the somewhat disappointing storyline, but that does not stop it from being one fantastic film, that everyone must own, or at least see it once a month!