Despicable Me (2010)

Sure the Minions might be overused by this point, but there was a pre-Minion era, never forget.

And this is one fun flick.

At it's core, the story is nothing spectacular. Gru is a villain, albeit not necessarily a very successful one. He wants to pull off the heist of the century, which is stealing the Moon. Never mind the logistics of it all, they don't really matter. But he needs a shrink ray, that happens to be in the possession of an up-and-coming villain called Vector. In order to retrieve this ray, he adopts three girls so he can gain entrance to Vector's lair. Where Gru at first only wants to use the girls, they grow on him and they will turn him into a loving dad by the end.

You see, told like this, nothing really spectacular. Yet this film is lots of fun. A big part of that is Steve Carell, who gives Gru this sort of but not quite Eastern European accent that is hard to pinpoint, but it works. The design of the characters is also very striking. The girls look fairly normal, but the design of Gru, Dr Nefario and the like really sets them apart. It's also funny how Gru, who turns out to be the hero, is always dressed in dark colours, whereas the villain is dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit. A little expectation subversion there.

The Minions were a great touch and not as overused as in some of the later installments. They are genuinely funny and their 'language' works really well.

See, this is as predictable of a film as it gets, and yet is is entertaining. You get what you expect and there are lots of fun moments and great jokes tossed in. The writing is pretty spot on and there's something instantly likeable about an originally dislikeable person like Gru. It's hard to pinpoint, but I think the moment he walks into the 'Bank of Evil' you get the first glimpse that Gru wants to be a really badass villain, but actually is just a softie at heart. His disillusion when his mother is disinterested about his obsession with going to the Moon as a child is a little weird, yet endearing.

'Despicable Me' just is a fun pastime. Practically anyone can have a good time watching this. Just go for it.