Despicable Me Reviewed 8 July 2010 by Ted Faraone Four stars out of five; $11 ticket on a scale of $0 to $13.00 FINALLY A 3-D MOVIE THAT IS BOTH GOOD AND APPRPORIATE FOR KIDS A studio security guard enlightened your critic about the 3-D craze. It is intended to stop piracy -- at least until the pirates figure out how to put 3-D filters on their video cameras or the projectionists figure out how to transfer the 3-D effect electronically. For the most part, 3-D adds nothing to movies. “Despicable Me,” the latest 3-D entry from Universal with a lot of help from French animators, is an exception. It would work fine without the special effects, but the 3-D is done so well that it could change where people sit in theaters. All of a sudden the front rows are desirable. At times it seems that characters are about to land in one’s lap. This PG rated comedy from helmer Pierre Coffin benefits from a short running time (95 minutes), animation worthy of a Disney feature from Walt’s lifetime, and a cast of voice-over actors who read like a “Who’s Who” of Plot is simple -- almost too simple for adults -- but pic’s humor overcomes concessions to the child audience. Gru is embarrassed that another criminal has stolen the great pyramid of Your critic had no idea that criminals lined up at the loan window of the bank. Oh, well…. Enter three orphans. They get Gru’s attention by getting into Vector’s hideout selling cookies for the head of the orphanage, Miss Hattie voiced by Kristen Wiig. Gru needs a gadget that Vector has lifted. A shrink ray. It’s the key to stealing the Moon. In order to get it back to Earth it must be shrunk. The kids are his key inside. He adopts them. Here begins pic’s only failing. Take a hard boiled criminal (which we know thanks to exposition) and throw him in a melting pot with three impossibly cute and impossibly stubborn children… and, well, you know the rest. But getting to the predictable ending is funny, and it will entertain parents as well as kids. No restless leg syndrome here. Pic boasts a few really cute plot twists. They include a visit to an amusement park by Gru and the kids, the accidental replacement of the moon after it has been stolen, and a high speed chase through the air involving Gru, the kids, Dr. Nefario, and Vector. Pic owes a debt to Frank Capra. A scene where Gru’s minions and the three kids chip in to pay for his rocket to the moon after he has been turned down by The Bank of Evil is a direct lift from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” For the intellectuals in the audience there is a little exposition involving both Gru (in flashback) and Vector having self-esteem issues heaped on them by obnoxious parents. Other than that, the science-fiction plays rather nicely, and a suspension of disbelief is easy. Tech kudos abound. Animation is first rate. Sound recording had better be. It was done in the booth. The 3-D is most effective in the credit roll -- credits appear to float on the screen. Vulgarity is at a minimum. Parents need not fear that kids will pick up obnoxious habits. Typically for such an effort, there is a little bit of Wiley Coyote after being fanned by Road Runner in more than a few scenes. But it is highly likely that the child auds will not have seen “Road Runner” cartoons unless they are tuned into the Boomerang channel. --30--
