Despicable Me is a 2010 American computer-animated 3D comedy film from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment that was released on July 9, 2010 in the United States. 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 is the first CGI feature produced by Universal, in association with its Illumination Entertainment division. It was entirely animated in the French studio Mac Guff in Paris, France. This is Illumination Entertainment's first feature film.

The film earned positive reviews from critics, and grossed more than $251 million in the U.S., against a budget of $69 million. A sequel, Despicable Me 2 is set to be released on July 3, 2013.

Plot

Gru (Steve Carell) is a super-villain, operating out of his suburban home that serves as a front for an underground lair where he, his partner, Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), and thousands of short yellow minions plan their nefarious deeds.

Gru's pride is injured when an unknown super-villain steals the Great Pyramid of Giza and is described as making "all other villains look lame". Gru decides to go one better by shrinking and stealing the Earth's moon, an idea based on his childhood dreams of being an astronaut, which were always discouraged by his mother (Julie Andrews). The plan, including a spacecraft, is quite expensive, and Gru seeks a loan from the Bank of Evil. The Bank's president, Mr. Perkins (Will Arnett), is impressed by the plan but will only provide the money if Gru can obtain a shrink ray first.

Gru and his minions easily steal a shrink ray from a secret base in Asia, but it is stolen from them moments later by the up-and-coming super-villain, Vector (Jason Segel), who was also responsible for the Pyramid theft. Gru tries several means to break into Vector's base without success, but notices three orphan girls, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher), easily walk into the base to sell Vector cookies. Gru, faking his credentials, adopts the girls from Miss Hattie's (Kristen Wiig) Home for Girls, planning on using them to infiltrate Vector's base. However, Gru has much difficulty nurturing them properly between their own rambunctiousness, their ballet classes, and his own unwillingness to be a parent.

Eventually, Gru and the girls successfully reacquire the shrink ray. The girls suggest a day at the local theme park to celebrate, whereupon Gru agrees, believing he can ditch the girls there. To his surprise, he comes to warm up to the girls over the course of the day, and takes them back home with him. Later, Gru returns to the Bank of Evil for his loan, but Perkins rejects him again, stating that they would rather see a younger super-villain, such as his son Vector, complete this theft. 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 interfering with the plan, arranges for the girls to be returned to the orphanage.

Gru proceeds with his plan to steal the moon, successfully shrinking it to fit in his hand. Gru realizes he can still make the girls' recital, but he arrives too late and finds that Vector has kidnapped them and demands the Moon as a ransom for their return. Gru makes the trade, but Vector reneges on the deal, flying off with the girls and the moon. Meanwhile, Dr Nefario has discovered that the Shrink Ray is not permanent and that an object the size of the Moon will return to normal size within hours. 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. Vector is trapped on the moon as it regains its full size.

Some time later, Gru has readopted the girls and treats them as his family, and he writes them a bedtime storybook framed around his own experience. Margo hugs Gru, telling him she loves him, at which he hugs her back, saying the same. 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".

Cast

• Steve Carell as Gru, the main protagonist and the world's former #1 super-villain. He intends to shrink and steal the moon to gain status and approval from his mother.
• Jason Segel as Victor "Vector" Perkins, the main antagonist and the world's nerdy new #1 super-villain after stealing the great Pyramid of Giza. He creates weapons using sea creatures.
• Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario, Gru's elderly, hearing impaired gadget man and good friend.
• Julie Andrews as Marlena, Gru's mother.
• Will Arnett as Mr. Perkins, the president of the Bank of Evil and Vector's father.
• Kristen Wiig as Miss Hattie, the mistress of a local orphanage.
• Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, the oldest of three girls. She is a big sister-figure to Agnes and Edith, wears glasses, and eventually comes to see Gru as her father after doubting his motives at first.
• Dana Gaier as Edith, the middle girl of the group. She is a bit of a tomboy that likes pink.
• Elsie Fisher as Agnes, the youngest girl. She has a fondness for unicorns and loves Gru almost immediately.
• Pierre Coffin as Tim, Bob, Mark, Phil, and Stuart, five of Gru's minions.
• Chris Renaud as Dave, one of Gru's minions.
• Jemaine Clement as Jerry, one of Gru's minions.
• Jack McBrayer as Tourist Father and Carnival Barker.
• Ken Jeong as Talk Show Host.
• Danny McBride as Fred McDade, Gru's next door neighbor.
• Mindy Kaling as Tourist Mother.
• Rob Huebel as Anchorman and Newscaster.
• Ken Daurio as Egyptian Guard.

Music

Release

Marketing

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.^{[citation needed]}

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. Special content can be unlocked from the application after seeing the film.^[3]

Books

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

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.^[4]

Home media

Despicable Me was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on December 14, 2010.^[5] 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.

Reception

Critical response

The film has received very positive reviews from critics. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 81% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 185 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."^[6] Among "Top Critics", comprising critics from the top newspapers and other publications, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 32 reviews.^[6] Metacritic, another review aggregation website, assigned the film a score of 72%, based on 34 reviews from mainstream critics.^[7]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, awarding it three stars out of a possible four.^[8] Other positive reviews came from Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.^[9][10]

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."^[11] 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.^[12]

Box-office performance

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.^[13] 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.^[14]

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 $290,500,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $543,010,705, against its $69 million production budget. This film is also Universal's sixth highest-grossing film (unadjusted for inflation)^[15] and the tenth-highest-grossing animated feature of all-time in North America.^[16] In worldwide earnings, it is the sixth biggest film of Universal Studios,^[17] the fourth-largest animated movie of 2010 trailing Toy Story 3, Shrek Forever After, and Tangled, the 18th largest animated film of all time and the 9th highest-grossing film of 2010.^[18]

Accolades

Sequel

A sequel to the film titled 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 includes Al Pacino as a Gru's nemesis, and Steve Coogan in a yet unnamed role.^[29]

See also

• Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem, an amusement ride under construction at Universal Studios Florida

References

External links

• Official website
• Despicable Me at the Internet Movie Database
• Despicable Me at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Despicable Me at Rotten Tomatoes
• Despicable Me at Metacritic
• Despicable Me at Box Office Mojo