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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)
Alex Garland's Civil War (2024)

2/23/2016

Despicable Me (2010) - Renaud & Coffin's wonderfully conceptualized animation family comedy



1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Animation (lost to Toy Story 3

+ Best New Franchise of the Year

The infectiously happy, effective poster for Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin's Despicable Me

Gru is an old-fashioned super-villain, who is getting overtaken by young up-and-comer Vector and his shrink ray. To get his cool back, he will have to steal the Moon, using the shrink ray and the help of, among others, his three sweet daughters.

Despicable Me looks somewhat similar to the great Megamind (2010), but it isn't quite as funny. The star-studded voice cast here mainly have the effect of making someone like me wonder which star is what character.
As the three girls move in with Gru, the story gets more sympathetic, although it never attains the heart of some of Pixar's best films, (Toy Story (1995) or Finding Nemo (2003), for instance.) On the other hand, the yellow minions and the hipster villain created here are rather funny.
The Despicable Me animation style and universe is full of fun and colors, 3D eye candy that will woo kids and a general upbeatnes that makes it hard to object to for anyone, though there might be those that will find it too much. I am full of admiration for its well-polished concept; an admiration similar to the one I felt for the first Transformers (2007).
Despicable Me is written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (The Lorax (2012), both) and directed by feature-debuting Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud (Despicable Me 2 (2013)).


Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Pierre Coffin: Minions (2015) - Inocuous fun for kids (co-director)
Coffin and Chris Renaud: Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Fun craziness for everyone




Watch the amazing trailer for the movie here

Cost: 69 mil. $
Box office: 543.2 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Despicable Me premiered July 19 at the Moscow International Film Festival and runs 95 minutes. It is the first feature from Illumination Entertainment, and the film was heavily promoted and merchandised through Universal, NBC and connected companies. The general North American release was July 9. The film opened #1 with a 56.3 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 251.5 mil. $ (46.3 % of the total gross), becoming Universal's biggest domestic hit since The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). It became the 2nd highest grossing animated film in North America of the year behind Toy Story 3, and the 4th highest worldwide, behind Toy Story 3, Shrek Forever After and Tangled. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets for the film were the UK with 32.2 mil. $ (5.2 %) and France with 28.5 mil. $ (5.2 %). The film was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Golden Globe, losing to Toy Story 3. Its success spun the Despicable Me franchise that has resulted in Despicable Me 2 (2013), Minions (2015) and in 2017, Despicable Me 3. Despicable Me is certified fresh at 81 % with a 6.8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

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