Despicable Me

     Now we come to a movie where my nickname, Fixer Sue, comes into play... Remember, as a Fixer Sue I just fix what I perceive as a problem. It doesn't mean you're wrong if you disagree with me, though I do ask that you keep somewhat of an open mind.

Today's movie: Despicable Me.

      Despicable me came out around the same time as Megamind, and created a dueling movies effect. Because they were both about villains as protagonists, people automatically thought DreamWorks was ripping off other companies again (they created Shark Tale, a Finding Nemo mockbuster). Of course my rebuttals to this are:

1. Animation takes months, or even years to make into a feature length movie. While it is of course possible to put out lesser versions of popular animated movies (compare Brave to Kiara the Brave) Megamind wasn't a rush job.
2. Universal hadn't put out many animated films prior to this. Why would DreamWorks copy a new comer when they can copy the people that are known to work? (That assumes they are copying though.)
3. Villain protagonist is a trope. It stretches all the way back to Paradise Lost. Them doing the same trope at the same time could be entirely coincidence.

Anyhow, on with the review.

Characters

     Despicable Me follows Gru, a villainous Russian-American in a world where the villains like to steal monuments that have no monetary value (See my post, Thieves and Stolen Diamonds, to know why I view thievery in movies tends to be idiotic) and cannot possibly be ransomed off without the villain being viciously killed by the country's army.

     Gru was villain of the year as a few of his Newspapers say, (This world must suck to have a ranking of villains... and suck more since it is in a public newspaper, and not just villains gloating to each other) but he has... Gotten old? It isn't entirely clear why Gru isn't the best anymore. He just has smaller targets for some reason.

     Anyway, alongside him is an extremely old scientist whose name (Nefario) probably doomed him to be an evil scientist with a PHD in engineering. He also has an army of small yellow minions in overalls and goggles. They are the comedy relief, are on all the promotional material, and are my biggest problem with the film. But, more on that after the summary.

     There is also a villain antagonist named Vector (odd that he would choose a math name when he is a Icthyology nerd.) He's the villain, but he's also rather incompetent, and likely dead at the end of the movie unless his father gets a ship to rescue him from the moon.

     Finally there are three girls that Gru adopts. There's the smart one, the smart-alek one, and the meme spewing cute one. Their names don't really matter in the long run, since they mostly act as a collective, and are rarely more than 20 yards apart from each other.

The Plot

     The plot is as follows: 

     Gru wants to prove he is still the best villain by stealing the moon. He tries to steal a shrink ray necessary to steal the moon, but another villain steals it. So he tries to steal it from the other villain, but is mostly unsuccessful. Then he discovers some girls selling cookies were able to get inside the villain's stronghold. so he adopts the children to have they carry cookie robots into the villains house, which enables him to steal the shrink ray. But the children start to change Gru, and he starts to care for them. So Nefario sends the children away because they were distracting Gru from becoming a great villain again.

     So Gru steals the moon, but the villain that stole the Shrinking ray from Gru captured the girls, and ransoms them off for the moon. However, he takes the girls and runs away. But Gru saves them, and they live happily Saturday Night fever Dance Party ever after until they make a sequel.

     Did you notice there wasn't any mention of the Minions in that Summary? That is because they are Comedy relief in a comedic movie. Their presence isn't needed. But then again, the movie probably wouldn't have done as well without them. Damn child demographic... Stop infecting my animated movies with annoying gags! 

The Good

     Gru isn't much of a villain... but he is probably one of the best bosses in the world. To sum up: He knows each of his Minions by name and can tell them apart; he stole the Time-Square jumbo tron and allows his employees to watch football on it; and he speaks to his minions like he honestly likes them. Boss of the year right there. Not to mention that he does show that he is truly badass when something he loves is threatened.

     Gru is pretty much the best part of the entire movie. I do wish the movie spent more time with Gru as a villain doing villainous things... But in it's place we have Daddy Day Care Lite.

The Bad

     The minions, while popular, have begun to really grate on me. Their scenes are long, can be cut with no harm done to the film, and only serve as comedy relief in a movie where there is little to no drama. Hell, when the drama finally does occur, the minions disappear from the screen, making the dramatic scenes the best part of the movie for me.

     Now, if you like the minions, that's fine; I'll admit their scenes were funny the first time around. However... Rumor has it that the sequel to Despicable Me is going to focus on the minions... Do you think you can stand them for 90 minutes?

Oh, and one thing to mention: the minions don't speak English. They speak some kind of language (if it is one; otherwise they are just spewing nonsense) but there are no subtitles for them...

Just watch this for a minute or two (starting from :27)

Yeah, that it pretty much what I expect a full movie of the Minions to be like; Despicable Me 2  = The Star Wars Holiday Special. Roar.

The minions are the only real problem in Despicable Me. They are pointless comedy relief in a movie that is already a comedy, and only serve to keep the attention of the Child Demographic.
And honestly, the Minions don't really fit Gru. Gru has the feeling of a cold War Era comic book villain, (meant to contrast with his Ipod-like Villain antagonist) and the minions don't match that. I can actually possibly say that Gru went downhill from being the best villain when he made the minions. At best they serve to humanize Gru, and make him more likable... However, I think that could be accomplished another way...

So, what would I do to fix the minions?

Well first, the design... Just take a look at these two images real quick:

How ironic that both have grown to be fairly annoying.

Now, Gru has a dark, gritty style to his tech. So, why not a fairly Dark minion?

     That is called a Shadow. It comes from the video game series Kingdom Hearts. Despite being creepy, it is somewhat cute (fans actually make plushies of this little guy). It probably wouldn't be as marketable... But then again no official plushies were made of the minions.

Now, of course I'm not saying they should have copied the Shadow exactly... No, I'm saying that the minions should have had some villainous qualities to them, and be as stylized as Gru's technology.

Now, you may be thinking: "But having cute minions made us like Gru more!"

Well, that's not entirely true. We didn't like Gru more because his minions were cute, we liked him more because of how he treated his minions. Don't change the relationship between Gru and his Minions. Make him able to tell his minions apart, refer to them by name, all that jazz...

Actually, creepy minions open up other possibilities for comedy; the interaction between the three girls and the minions becomes more interesting when the three have different opinions on them (eldest is terrified, middle child thinks they're cool, and the youngest hugs them) as an example. In addition, if the minions are removed of their comedic purpose, they can be competent helpers for Gru, and help make the scenes where he is truly being a villain all the more fun and awesome.

Not to mention... Removing the comedy relief form the minions would have improved the script greatly. If the minions weren't little corn kernals in overalls, and were instead stylized, cute monsters, Despicable Me could have been a live action movie.

Imagine that, Despicable me in Live Action...



This has been Fixer Sue, reminding you that your opinion isn't wrong if you disagree with me; just please do not flame me for my opinion.


Upcoming reviews:
Yes Man
World of Warcraft: Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War
My Top 10 Animated movies
Dilbert the Animated Series

Dollhouse
Thoroughly Modern Millie (Junior)

Megamind

     Before we begin, I would just like to say one thing: Pixar is making Finding Nemo 2, and is set to release it in 2016. Make of that information what you will, considering Pixar will have fulfilled it's obligation to create sequels for Disney with Monster University.

     Now then, onto DreamWorks.

     Megamind is simply astounding; my initial impression was that it was basically going to be Shrek, only in modern day and with super hero clichés instead of fantasy ones...

Instead we got this:

     Instead of a pure comedy movie that doesn't age well, we got a well written, exciting, and fun movie about a Super Villain coping with finally killing his Super Hero, falling in love with the woman he used to use as a damsel in distress (suddenly became creepy now that I think about it, but it is much better when you watch the movie), creating a new super hero that turns into a super villain, and finally becoming the local anti-hero. When was the last time Pixar had a villain as the hero? Disney?

     Megamind is one among the new trend of DreamWorks films; Each of their films now seem to glorify their respective genres, rather than tear it down like Shrek did. How to Train Your Dragon: High Fantasy. Monsters Vs Aliens: Monster movie. Kung Fu Panda: Kung Fu film. Rise of the Guardians: holiday film. Each one is loving towards it's genre, and has fun with it. True, two of them are based on books... But since when have we said that films based on books are bad?

     Megamind follows the genre of Super Heroes, and asks "What if Lex Luthor killed Superman?" And goes from there.

... Well, the version of Lex Luthor that was a super villain, and not a corrupt businessman that would actually sell his devices if it made him money.

     One of the best compliments I can give this film is this: the writers treated the audience like adults. While there is a generic lying subplot, it actually works here, and actually works to add to the drama. The romance is also pleasant, with the romance between Roxanne Richie and Megamind being the best Non-action scenes in the movie. The comedy, while sometimes being a little far and inbetween and mostly relying on gags, is pretty good. The best scene is the Banter between Megamind and Metroman, and I dare not ruin it for anyone interested in watching.

And as for the action... Well, think of a superman movie. Now imagine that it was animated, and they weren't restricted by technology in what they could show in the battle. THAT is what the action is like. Unrestricted by the bounds of our world, the movie is free to be as artistic and exciting as it wants with the action. 

Now, why did I review this movie...

I selected it along with Despicable Me, and Yes Man for a group of reviews on a couple subjects.

One of those subjects:

Animated movies being written the same as live-action.

Megamind is the perfect example of an animated movie written in this way; it could be translated to live action with very little loss in the story. It was written with entertaining all audiences in mind, and succeeds.

The second Subject:

Comedy tempered with Drama. One likely knows of "comic relief," the section of a dramatic movie inserted to lessen the tension. However, it is now used primarily in comedies, putting comic relief characters into a comedy for the sole purpose of being butt-monkeys or being childish. Think Jar Jar Binks and you'll know what I mean.

Now, imagine the inverse: Dramatic Relief. Drama inserted into a comedy to relax the audience.

I'll go more over this subject in the following reviews, just know this: Megamind does this well.

This has been Fixer Sue, setting up for a bigger review on a movie that hasn't aged well for me, Despicable Me.