Despicable Me (2010)

November 13, 2018 12:27 PM

When a criminal mastermind uses a trio of orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme, he finds their love is profoundly changing him for the better.

Roger Ebert

“Despicable Me” lacks a franchise to ride into town on, but it may establish one. I'm not sure how Gru can think up anything more sensational than stealing the moon, but I'm sure Dr. Nefario is working on that as we speak. The film is funny, energetic, teeth-gnashingly venomous and animated with an eye to exploiting the 3-D process with such sure-fire techniques as a visit to an amusement park.

The sad thing, I am forced to report, is that the 3-D process produces a picture more dim than it should be. “Despicable Me” is technically competent and nowhere near the visual disaster that is “The Last Airbender,” but take my word for it: Try to find it in 2-D. Or, if you see it in 3-D, check out the trailers online to see how bright and cheery it would look in 2-D. How can people deceive themselves that 3-D is worth paying extra for?

Trailer

posted by zinon (12 comments total)

Ah, yes, Patient Zero of that odious yellow infection. I think I may have seen the last half hour of this while visiting family, so I am in no way qualified to discuss the film on its own merits, but the long banana-babelling shadow it has cast on pop culture is unavoidable, and should be noted.
posted by radwolf76 at 1:15 PM on November 13, 2018

The sad thing, I am forced to report, is that the 3-D process produces a picture more dim than it should be.

Imagine how much everyone in the world hates the minions. Now imagine that hatred balled up into a single dot, the size of a flea. Now imagine that that flea is on the ground floor of the Willis Sears Tower. In this allegory, the Willis Sears Tower is approximately 1/10th of how much Roger Ebert hated how the 3-D process made films darker. I have never hated anything as much as Ebert hated that, and I have had people try to blow me up.
posted by Etrigan at 1:22 PM on November 13, 2018 [8 favorites]

So this is the thread where everyone hates on the minions? Ok, fine.

I love this film, though. My wife and I watched it for the first time with some family over, after we'd all had a really hard, emotionally difficult week on a few fronts and this film...this film had us laughing pretty hard andalong for the ride. Notable bits:

-"freeze ray!"
-"I said 'dart gun'"
-"It's so fluffy!"
posted by nubs at 1:53 PM on November 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

I too have noticed Roger Ebert's vehemence toward 3-D movies. While I can't say the darkening is even something I would notice, I don't like them for the simple reason of having glasses. There's just no good way to put theater 3-D glasses over or under prescription lenses.

Ebert was right that Despicable Me would launch a franchise. Though, perhaps, it would have been better if it hadn't.

While I won't be re-watching this until later tonight, I recall the film was engagingly enjoyable and am looking forward to a pleasant viewing.
posted by zinon at 2:22 PM on November 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

I feel that this movie and Austin Powers share a lot of similarities, in that they are both low-key comedies with a surprising amount of heart. Then they both spawned a series of sequels that completely failed to replicate the aspects of the originals that made them good movies.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 2:25 PM on November 13, 2018 [8 favorites]

When I saw this movie, I *knew* the minions were going to be a virus spread on the innocent world. They are precision focus-tested for cuteness:

* Fuzzy
* Unreasonably giant eyes
* A bright sunny color
* Stupid
* Mischievous but harmlessly so
* Not an animal or a baby, so no one had any feelings about them yet: A tabula rasa for imprinting onto whatever product your corporation might care to endorse

They are monstrosities borne of capitalism, one of the many horrors for which we must rebuild the guillotines.
posted by JDHarper at 2:45 PM on November 13, 2018 [5 favorites]

"I have never hated anything as much as Ebert hated that, and I have had people try to blow me up."

Explain, please? *raises the eyebrow of curiosity now*
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:54 PM on November 13, 2018

> jenfullmoon:
"Explain, please? *raises the eyebrow of curiosity now*"

Probably because Etrigan NEVER rhymes. Anything.
posted by Samizdata at 9:31 PM on November 13, 2018

"I have never hated anything as much as Ebert hated that, and I have had people try to blow me up."

Explain, please?

Has it been that long since I had to swing my veteran credentials around?
posted by Etrigan at 7:37 AM on November 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

odious yellow infection

Despicable meme?

(I quite enjoy the minions, personally, at least in the film, though not especially in the wider culture. Each to their own.)
posted by Grangousier at 9:54 AM on November 14, 2018

I still use 'IT'S SOOO FLUUUUFFFFFFY!" To try and express any moments of squee fandom where I am genuinely delighted at a thing.
posted by Faintdreams at 11:09 AM on November 14, 2018 [5 favorites]

As the parent of a five-year-old I get to see a lot of the DM movies, as well as the Minions stand-alone film. Interestingly this one is the least demanded.
posted by phearlez at 7:12 PM on November 16, 2018