Rank & vile

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This article was published 09/07/2010 (5916 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Really bad guys can make for good entertainment.

Most seasoned moviegoers know that. This animated feature proceeds on the notion that you’re never too young to appreciate a good villain.

Hence: Gru (voiced by Steve Carell with a can’t-quite-put-your-finger-on-it eastern European accent).

Gru is clearly a bad guy. He would rather deep-freeze the entire coffee-shop queue than patiently wait his turn. And he’s not above a little recreational balloon-pricking to amuse himself during his downtime.

But in this film’s misshapen universe, super-villains are much like any other working shmoes. To realize his personal dream of using a purloined shrink ray-gun to steal the moon, Gru has to put working capital together like any other small businessman. In fact, he has to go to the Bank of Evil to get the necessary loan. (The sign at the front of the Bank of Evil has one of the best gags mom and dad may see all year. Be alert.)

But Gru finds himself in direct competition with a neighbouring megalomaniac, Vector (Jason Segel), who likewise has the trappings of super-villainy, including a high-security lair and exotic weaponry (a gun that shoots live piranhas). Augmenting Vector’s boo-hiss factor: he’s a spoiled brat. When he acquires that shrinking ray-gun from Gru, the stage is set for a battle of the evil geniuses in which Gru finds himself out-geniused.

By a twisted twist of fate, Gru realizes his only chance at invading Vector’s impenetrable lair is by adopting three cute little orphan girls (the eldest voiced by iCarly’s Miranda Cosgrove ) who are forced by the evil orphanage director (Kristen Wiig) to sell treats door to door. (Vector’s weak spot: cookies.)

Gru adopts the girls only with the intention of carrying out his wicked plan. But in being obliged to take care of them, he learns that stealing the moon may not be the most rewarding achievement life has to offer.

The film is set in the same sphere as The Incredibles, but it has little of that film’s wit or epic scope. Instead, it opts for a barrage of sight gags and cuteness, the latter quality supplied by the girls and Gru’s multitude of bumbling, pet-like "minions" who eagerly try to facilitate their master’s plans with a combination of can-do attitude and can’t-do incompetence.

Like last year’s animated feature Planet 51, this film is largely a European project. Produced by Chris Meladandri (Ice Age), it was co-directed by French animators Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, and adapted from a story by Spanish animator Sergio Pablos.

But unlike Planet 51, it works pretty well. The voice talent is wisely cast (a major surprise being the casting of Mary Poppins herself, Julie Andrews, as Gru’s thickly accented, hard-to-impress mother). The jokes are consistently amusing. And the film’s 3-D effects (viewable at Grant Park and Polo Park only) are refreshingly fun.

Most 3-D animated features choose to be tastefully "immersive," but the end credits of this film make the most of the medium’s ability to poke objects in the audience’s face.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Despicable Me

Starring the voices of Steve Carell and Miranda Cosgrove

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne

PG

HHH out of five