At first glance, Despicable Me seems like the typical bad-guy-becomes-good story. Gru, a secret villain adopts three kids Margo, Edith and Agnes as a ploy to steal the moon. Eventually though, his fatherly feelings develop for the three orphans. Now this leaves Gru in a perilous choice between his newfound love and his planned crime of the century.
The Hollywood faces behind the characters certainly portrayed their roles well. Russel Brand’s elderly voice behind Dr. Nefario showed versatility while Steve Carell’s and Julie Andrews’s accents were very convincing. It was unfortunate though that Andrews only appeared in three major scenes and a few flashbacks, where she said very little.
The movie is undeniably adorable, fun and childishly entertaining, but there are a many drawbacks regarding its plot, setting and character formation. All three, though creative and unique, presented ambiguous strains and left many unanswered logical questions.
The main character was obviously a villain who stuck out like a sore thumb living in a normal suburban area. His car, a humongous and horribly-shaped vehicle, would have been peculiar enough for sane neighbours to call the police and investigate his extremely pointy house. From there, they could have discovered the many dubious medieval weapons and military armaments that he even kept as decoration.
The same question also goes for Gru’s rival Vector who lives around the same area inside an egg-shaped house. He also owns gadgets that may be too highly-advanced for anyone to afford. The possibility of Vector’s father being able to fund them seems likely, yet even the owner of an underground villain bank should know how to remain private, which was presented otherwise in the movie. When your son steals a giant pyramid, the best place to hide it is not exactly at the backyard.
Last are Gru’s cute and inaudible minions: what are they, and where do they come from? The movie failed to elaborate.
Children will adore this movie because they can still manage to believe that anything is possible. They can accept anything that they watch without having to question too much. To those who are less childlike, the movie might not be the best choice to watch as it may leave confusion and unanswered questions.
