Despicable Me

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Despicable Me
Despicable Me Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Pierre Coffin
Chris Renaud
Produced by Chris Meledandri
John Cohen
Janet Healy
Screenplay by Cinco Paul
Ken Daurio
Story by Sergio Pablos
Starring Steve Carell
Jason Segel
Miranda Cosgrove
Russell Brand
Kristen Wiig
Will Arnett
Danny McBride
Jemaine Clement
Jack McBrayer
Julie Andrews
Music by Pharrell Williams
Heitor Pereira
Editing by Gregory Perler
Pam Ziegenhagen
Studio Illumination Entertainment
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s)
  • July 9, 2010 (2010-07-09) (North America)
  • October 6, 2010 (2010-10-06) (France)
Running time 95 minutes
Country United States
France
Language English
Budget $69 million[1]
Box office $543,113,985[1]

Despicable Me is a 2010 American computer-animated 3D family comedy film from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment that was released on July 9, 2010 in the United States. The first Illumination Entertainment production, it was directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, based on an original story by Sergio Pablos.

The film stars the voice of Steve Carell as Gru, a super-villain who adopts three girls (the voices of Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Elsie Fisher) from an orphanage; and the voice of Jason Segel as Vector, a rival of Gru who steals the Great Pyramid of Giza. When Gru learns of Vector's heist, he plans an even greater heist to shrink and steal the Earth's moon.

It was entirely animated by the French animation studio Mac Guff, which was later acquired by Illumination Entertainment.[2]

The film earned positive reviews from critics, and grossed over $543 million worldwide, against a budget of $69 million.[1] A sequel, Despicable Me 2, is set to be released on July 3, 2013, followed by a spin-off featuring Gru's Minions as the main characters on December 19, 2014.[3]

Contents

Plot [edit]

Gru, a super-villain, has his pride injured when an unknown super-villain steals the Great Pyramid of Giza; an action that is described by Dr. Nefario as making "all other villains look lame." Gru decides to do better, with the assistance of his colleague Dr. Nefario, by shrinking and stealing the moon; an idea based on his childhood dream of being an astronaut, which was always discouraged by his mother Marlena. The plan is quite expensive and Gru seeks a loan from the Bank of Evil, where the president Mr. Perkins is impressed by the plan, but will only provide the money if Gru can obtain a shrink ray first.

Gru and his minions steal a shrink ray from a secret base in Asia but the up-and-coming super-villain, Vector, who was also responsible for the Pyramid theft, immediately steals it from Gru. Gru attempts to break into Vector's fortress to get the shrink ray back, but is defeated by numerous booby traps. However, he notices three orphan girls Margo, Edith, and Agnes easily walk into the base to sell Vector cookies. Gru, faking his credentials as a Dentist, made by his minions at random, adopts the girls from Miss Hattie's Home for Girls, planning on using them to infiltrate Vector's base so he can steal the shrink ray back. However, Gru has much difficulty nurturing them properly between their own rambunctiousness, their ballet classes, and his own ineptitude as a parent.

Eventually, Gru and the girls arrive at Vector's fortress and Gru manages to steal the shrink ray. The girls then suggest a day at the local theme park; Gru agrees, believing he can leave the girls there, but he warms up to the girls after they compliment him over destroying a rigged carnival game. Later, Gru contacts Mr. Perkins, stating that he has finally got the shrink ray in his possession, but Perkins rejects him again after Margo, Edith, and Agnes interrupt the meeting, causing Mr. Perkins to denounce his success as a villian and end funding to Gru. As Gru mopes about at home, the girls offer the contents of their piggy bank to fund the plan. Gru, inspired, sacrifices parts of his lair to construct the spacecraft. Gru plans to steal the moon when it is nearest the Earth but this ends up being the same day as the girls' ballet recital. Gru becomes conflicted and Dr. Nefario, seeing this as interfering with the plan, arranges for the girls to be returned to the orphanage. Around the same time, Mr. Perkins informs Vector of Gru's possession of the shrink ray and the adoption of the three girls, inciting Vector to take action.

Gru proceeds with his plan to steal the moon, successfully shrinking it to fit in his hand (with a brief prior attempt by Vector to latch onto the rocket where he is promptly electrocuted), but is too late to attend the recital. He then finds a note from Vector, who has kidnapped the girls, telling him to give him the moon in exchange for them. After arriving at Vector's lair, Gru eagerly makes the trade, but Vector reneges on the deal, flying off with the girls and the moon, much to Gru's anger. Meanwhile, Dr. Nefario has discovered that the effects of the shrink ray are temporary; the bigger the object was originally, the faster it will regain its original size. As the moon starts to expand in Vector's ship, Gru, Dr. Nefario, and the minions pull off a daring mid-air rescue of the girls just as the moon explodes out from Vector's ship and launches itself back into orbit, with Vector trapped on the moon with one of Gru's minions.

Some time later, Gru has readopted the girls and treats them as his daughters and he writes them a bedtime storybook framed around his own experience. The girls perform their own ballet recital for Gru, his mother, Dr. Nefario, and the minions with the movie ending as they all get on stage to dance to "You Should Be Dancing", and seeing the moon in it's rightful place. A final shot shows Vector dancing on the moon with the anti-gravity afflicted minion.

Cast [edit]

  • Steve Carell as Gru, a supervillain and the main protagonist.
  • Jason Segel as Victor "Vector" Perkins, the main antagonist and the son Mr. Perkins' who often undermines Gru with more advanced technology.
  • Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario, Gru's personal mad scientist.
  • Julie Andrews as Marlena, Gru's mother who always berates her son.
  • Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, the oldest of the three girls who is known for her wit.
  • Dana Gaier as Edith, the middle sister of the three girls that is known for her rebellious attitude and fond of destruction.
  • Elsie Kate Fisher as Agnes, the youngest sister of the three girls whom has an obsession with unicorns.
  • Will Arnett as Mr. Perkins, the President of the Bank of Evil and Vector's father.
  • Kristen Wiig as Miss Hattie, a dominating woman that runs Miss Hattie's Home for Girls.
  • Pierre Coffin as Tim, Bob, Mark, Phil, and Stuart, five of Gru's Minions.
  • Chris Renaud as Dave, Billy and Larry, three of Gru's Minions.
  • Jemaine Clement as Kevin and Jerry, two of Gru's Minions.
  • Jack McBrayer as Carnival Barker, a greedy carnival employee who runs a rigged shooting themed game.
    • McBrayer as Tourist Father, Justin's country oriented father
  • Ken Jeong as Talk Show Host, the announcer of the news.
  • Danny McBride as Fred McDade, Gru's average neighbor whom has difficulty understanding Gru.
  • Mindy Kaling as Tourist Mother, Justin's mother that tries to keep her adventurous son under control.

Music [edit]

Main article: Despicable Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Despicable Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the film of the same name, and it was released on July 6, 2010. It features new songs from the film written and performed by Pharrell Williams, and performances by Destinee & Paris, The Sylvers, Robin Thicke, The Bee Gees and David Bisbal.[citation needed]

Release [edit]

Marketing [edit]

NBC (which is owned by Universal) had an extensive marketing campaign leading up to the film's release. Sneak peeks were shown in episodes of The Biggest Loser. Despicable Me was also featured on Last Comic Standing when Gru comes in to audition. IHOP restaurants promoted the film by introducing three new menu items, a kids' breakfast meal, and a drink all having the word "minion" in them.[4]

Airheads candy released packages of the characters and came with a code for the Despicable Me video game.[citation needed]

Best Buy released a free smartphone application called "Movie Mode" that translates what the Minions are saying during the end credits for the 3-D Theatrical release. Special content can be unlocked from the application after seeing the film.[5]

Books [edit]

Question book-new.svg
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In May 2010, three books related to the movie were published, as well as the children's puppet book featured in the film. The first, My Dad the Super Villain (ISBN 0316083828), was rated as a preschool book. The second, Despicable Me: The Junior Novel (ISBN 0316083801), was rated as being a Junior Reader for ages 8 to 12. The third, Despicable Me: The World's Greatest Villain (ISBN 0316083771), was rated for ages 3–6 years. The puppet book Sleepy Kittens (ISBN 031608381X) was written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio and illustrated by Paul.

Video game [edit]

A video game titled Despicable Me: The Game was released for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii. A Nintendo DS version was released under the name Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. Namco also released a version for the iPhone and iPad platform entitled Despicable Me: Minion Mania, developed by Anino Games.[6]

Home media [edit]

Despicable Me was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on December 14, 2010.[7] The release included three new short films, titled Home Makeover, Orientation Day and Banana. Also, the website MinionMadness was launched to promote the home media release. Best Buy Movie Mode was updated for the home media release. Now the minions are translated during the whole movie.[citation needed]

Reception [edit]

Critical response [edit]

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 81% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 188 reviews, with an average score of 6.8/10. The critical consensus is: "Borrowing heavily (and intelligently) from Pixar and Looney Tunes, Despicable Me is a surprisingly thoughtful, family-friendly treat with a few surprises of its own."[8] Metacritic, another review aggregation website, assigned the film a score of 72%, based on 34 reviews from mainstream critics.[9]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, awarding it three stars out of a possible four.[10] Other positive reviews came from Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.[11][12]

In contrast, A. O. Scott of The New York Times disliked the film, stating "while there's nothing worth despising, there's not much to remember either."[13] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote:

There's nothing in this to engage an audience. Obviously, no one cares if this guy gets to remain as the world's top bad guy. Nor is this situation inherently amusing in a character way or even interesting in a satirical or sardonic way. There is simply nothing here, except a pretext for lots of labored, slapstick spy-versus-spy type shenanigans between the two "villains." Twenty minutes into Despicable Me, nothing has happened.[14]

Box-office performance [edit]

Released on July 9, 2010, in the United States, Despicable Me opened at the number one spot at the box office and pulled in $56.3 million, making it the third biggest opening grossing for an animated film in 2010 behind Toy Story 3 and Shrek Forever After.[15] In its second weekend, the film dipped to 42% to second place behind Inception with $32.8 million earned. The film then had another drop of 27% in its third weekend and finished in third place with $23.8 million. On August 5, 2010, the film crossed the $200 million mark, becoming the first Universal film to reach the milestone since 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum.[16]

On the weekend lasting from September 3–5, 2010, it surpassed Shrek Forever After to become the second highest-grossing animated film of 2010 in the United States and Canada, behind Toy Story 3. It is also the highest-grossing non-DreamWorks/non-Disney·Pixar animated film of all time in these territories. The film has made $251,513,985 in the United States and Canada as well as an estimated $291,600,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $543,010,705, against its $69 million budget.[1] This film is also Universal's sixth highest-grossing film (unadjusted for inflation)[17] and the tenth-highest-grossing animated feature of all-time in North America.[18] In worldwide earnings, it is the sixth biggest film of Universal Studios,[19] the fourth highest-grossing animated film of 2010 trailing Toy Story 3, Shrek Forever After, and Tangled, the 22th highest-grossing animated film of all time and the 9th highest-grossing film of 2010.[20]

Accolades [edit]

Award Category/Recipient(s) Result Reference
Annie Awards Best Animated Feature Nominated [21]
Voice Acting in a Feature Production (Steve Carell)
Character Design In a Animated Film (Carter Goodrich)
Directing in a Feature Production (Pierre Coffin)
Music in a Feature Production (Pharrell Williams and Heitor Pereria)
Production Design in a Feature Production (Yarrow Cheny and Eric Guillon)
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Animated Feature
Best Animated Female (Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, Dana Gaier as Edith, and Elsie Fisher as Agnes)
BAFTA Awards Best Animated Film [22]
Critics' Choice Movie Awards Best Animated Film [23]
Golden Globe Awards Best Animated Feature Film [24]
Kids Choice Awards Favorite Animated Movie Won [25]
Favorite Buttkicker (Steve Carell) Nominated
Peoples Choice Awards Favorite Family Movie [26]
Satellite Awards Best Animated or Mixed Media Film [27]
Saturn Awards Best Animated Film [28]
Teen Choice Awards Choice Summer: Movie [29]
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Animated film [30]
Women Film Critics Circle Best Animated Females Won

Sequel [edit]

Main article: Despicable Me 2

A sequel, Despicable Me 2, is scheduled to be released on July 3, 2013. It will be produced by the same team that was behind the first film - along with directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, and writers Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove and Kristen Wiig will reprise their roles. New cast members include Benjamin Bratt as Eduardo, Gru's nemesis, and Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom.[31]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Despicable Me". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-06-28. 
  2. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (December 12, 2011). "Universal benefit in Mac Guff accord". Variety. Retrieved December 17, 2011. 
  3. ^ "Universal Dates Minions Movie Dec. 19, 2014". Deadline. August 21, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2012. 
  4. ^ ""Despicable" Minions Invade IHOP This Summer". 2010. Retrieved February 13, 2013. 
  5. ^ Terrell, Kenneth (July 14, 2010). "Fun With Phones: Despicable Me's Best Buy Movie Mode App". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 20, 2010.  More than one of |work= and |newspaper= specified (help)
  6. ^ "Despicable Me: Minion Mania". iTunes. Retrieved 2010-10-23. 
  7. ^ Calonge, Juan (2010-09-22). "Despicable Me Blu-ray and 3D BD Announced". blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2010-11-22. 
  8. ^ "Despicable Me Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 18, 2012. 
  9. ^ "Despicable Me Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved July 20, 2010. 
  10. ^ Ebert, Roger (July 7, 2010). "Despicable Me". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 20, 2010. 
  11. ^ Travers, Peter. "Despicable Me". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 14, 2010. 
  12. ^ Phillips, Michael (July 8, 2010). "Despicable does battle with itself, but sentiment wins in the end". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 14, 2010. 
  13. ^ Scott, A. O. (July 9, 2010). "Despicable Me Lunar Toons and Cookie Capers". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2010. 
  14. ^ LaSalle, Mick (July 9, 2010). "Review: Despicable Me". SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle). Retrieved July 14, 2010. 
  15. ^ Ray Subers (July 12, 2010). "Weekend Report: 'Despicable Me' Dominates, 'Predators' Solid But Unspectacular". Box Office Mojo. 
  16. ^ Ray Subers (August 6, 2010). "Seven-Day Summary: 'Inception's Reign Continues". Box Office Mojo. 
  17. ^ "UNIVERSAL All Time Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2001-08-26. 
  18. ^ "Animation". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2001-10-06. 
  19. ^ "WORLDWIDE GROSSES". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-10-26. 
  20. ^ "2010 Worldwide Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-10-23. 
  21. ^ "38th Annual Annie Nominations". The Annie Awards. Retrieved May 2, 2012. 
  22. ^ "2011 Film Awards Winners and Nominees". BAFTA. January 6, 2011. Retrieved May 2, 2011. 
  23. ^ "THE 16th CRITICS' CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS NOMINEES". Broadcast Film Critics Association. Retrieved May 2, 2012. 
  24. ^ "THE 68TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS NOMINATIONS". The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. December 14, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2012. 
  25. ^ Bricker, Tierney (February 10, 2011). "Kids' Choice Awards 2011 Nominees: Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez lead". Zap2It. Retrieved May 2, 2012. 
  26. ^ "People's Choice Awards 2011 Nominees". People's Choice. Retrieved May 2, 2012. 
  27. ^ "Satellite Awards 2010". International Press Academy. Retrieved May 2, 2012. 
  28. ^ Bettinger, Brendan (February 23, 2011). "INCEPTION, LET ME IN, TRON, and THE WALKING DEAD Top the 2011 Saturn Award Nominations". Collider.com. Retrieved May 2, 2012. 
  29. ^ Lu, Anne (July 14, 2010). "Teen Choice Awards Nominations". Breaking Global News. Retrieved August 17, 2011. 
  30. ^ "The 2010 WAFCA Award Winners". The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association. December 6, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2012. 
  31. ^ Child, Ben (March 22, 2013). "Despicable Me 2: evil genius or just plain bad?". The Guardian. Retrieved March 24, 2013. 

External links [edit]

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