Boy have things in the animated movie world started to change. In the beginning, Pixar seemed to control everything. Not much existed in the way of competition. Sure, some studios like Sony Animation were able to produce some pretty animation, but they were lacking in the story department. Slowly, in the past few years, it seems the competition has started to step it up and give Pixar a little competition, particularly Dreamworks Animation.
Enter 'Despicable Me.' Universal Studios has not been a major player in the animated film department up to this point but oh how quickly things can change. 'Despicable Me' was a huge success for the studio, grossing over $250 million, and with good cause.
'Despicable Me' is the story of a mega villain named Gru (Steve Carell). For years, Gru has been the world's greatest villain. He has made his mark by stealing various monuments from around the world and just being generally evil to every person he comes in contact with. All of a sudden, Gru's title as the number one villain has been stripped by a newcomer named Vector (Jason Segel). Vector jumped onto the scene by stealing the great pyramid from Egypt. Gru decides that it's time for him to reclaim the title as number one villain by stealing the moon. To Gru's dismay, the evil bank's president, Mr. Perkins (Will Arnett) tells Gru that they won't fund his heist unless he can first steal a shrink-gun. Vector ruins Gru's plan by stealing the shrink gun from Gru right after Gru has stolen it! Gru decides to think outside the box and adopts three girls named Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher). He plans to use their cookie selling ability against Vector by secretly gaining access to his fortress through the girls. As Gru grows fond of the girls, he must decide between being the worlds greatest villain or a great father.
For me, 'Despicable Me' worked because of the great characters. I really enjoyed the growth Gru went through. He started off as a singularly evil person, caring about nothing else but being the best at what he does. In the end, he learns that there is more to life than being the greatest villain in the world. Vector also proved to be a fun supporting character. In the start of the film, I almost found the relationship between Gru and Vector to be like that of Wile E. Coyote and the Road runner, Gru being the former. Also worth mentioning are some supporting characters like Gru's minions and Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand). With all these great characters, it would have been easy for this film to fall apart by trying to do too much with all the great content, but thankfully, a great balance is struck and a great movie is the end product.
The voice acting was also very strong. Steve Carell does a great job voicing Gru. He strikes a masterful balance between ruthless villain and caring father. Jason Segal also delivers a solid performance by bringing some great humor to the character of Vector. Also worth mentioning are the performances of Jule Andres as Gru's mom, Kristen Wiig as the orphanage director Ms. Hattie, and directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud as all of the minions. Overall, I found the casting decisions to be nearly perfect.
So what makes 'Despicable Me' rank among the top animation films of 2010? For me, it was the excellent story. Children and adults of all ages should easily be able to find something to love about this movie. Kids will love the humor of the minions while adults will enjoy some of the more subtle humor (like the evil bank formerly being called Lehman Brothers). If you haven't yet seen 'Despicable Me,' I would easily recommend checking this one out, you won't be disappointed.
The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats.
'Despicable Me' arrives on Blu-ray packaged as a three disc set. Disc one is the movie and special features spread across a duel-layer disc. Disc two is the DVD copy of the film. Disc three is the digital copy disc. Please note that 'Despicable Me' has also been released in a 4 disc 3D Blu-ray edition as well.
'Despicable Me' arrives on Blu-ray with a stunningly beautiful 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer. Simply put, this baby is flawless. Sit back and enjoy it!
Notice the vibrant color palate with colors so bright, they threaten to burst out of your screen, and blacks that appear bottomless. Enjoy every last detail, like the bright blue sky, bight yellows from the sun, each individual blade of green grass, and banana yellow of the minions. Each frame seems to look better than the last. As far as digital artifacts go, there are none, this is probably about as good as an animation film can look on the Blu-ray format.
'Despicable Me' easily ranks right up there with the top transfers of 2010. The animation style may not be as realistic as a film like 'Toy Story 3' but that is perfectly fine since what it lacks in detail it makes up for by featuring some of the brightest colors you will find anywhere. Enjoy this demo disc!
Equally as impressive as the video quality is the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. This track will give your home theater system a great workout. All speakers will be engaged throughout, especially during some of the more action packed sequences like Gru's air fight with Vector. You'll be able to hear each missile work its way around your speaker system. The bass effects will also threaten to bring down walls in your house at times.
With all those powerful effects, speech remains perfectly clear throughout. Notice some of the more minor details as well, like the realistic surround effects at the amusement park; at times, it felt like standing in the middle of a crowd. Overall, the audio, like the video presentation, is perfect.
If the stunning A/V material wasn't enough, 'Despicable Me' also features a fairly impressive number of bonus content. Here is what you can look forward to enjoying with this release:
Overall, I was very impressed with this three disc package. 'Despicable Me' is a fun movie that folks of all ages should enjoy. This is a no brainer for a family movie night selection or just a relaxing sit down for that matter. This package features demo video and audio as well as a fairly large amount of extra content. This Blu-ray comes highly recommended for both fans of the movie and anyone who hasn't seen it yet.
Portions of this review also appear in our coverage of Dunkirk on Blu-ray. This post features unique Vital Disc Stats, Video, and Final Thoughts sections.
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