Despicable Me

Rating:****

After a considerable gap an animation film that thrives on songs,especially Despicable Me and The Way It Is,which immediately establish the characters of its two main,contrasting leads. The first song is picturised on Gru (Carrell),whose desperation to show he’s bad may shows he may not be so bad after all,and the second for Vector,the young usurper to the crown of “the worst criminal of all time” who doesn’t have to try too hard.

In fact,that’s what Despicable Me does so well – not try too hard. A film with the tagline ‘Superbad. Superdad’ could be asking too much of itself. Especially if that meant turning a boy who could never live up to the expectations of his mother,into an adult still trying to live up to expectations of being a super villain — by planning the “biggest heist of all time” by stealing the moon – to finally an adoptive father who finds there are some expectations which are surprisingly easy to meet.

Gru makes that transition after he adopts three young girls – one of whom sings herself to sleep with a small prayer for a pet unicorn – from an orphanage. The adoption is initially just a ploy as he wants the girls to enter Vector’s “fortress” as part of a plan to steal a ‘Shrink-Ray’ gun. However,not surprisingly he finds himself falling in love with the kids,having tea parties with them and even reading out what must count as one of the most moving bed-time stories of all time.

Now this angle again leaves the field wide open for some unvarnished tugging at the heartstrings. But far from being pretty-in-pink,helpless and sad,Margo,Edith and Agnes are sturdy,steady girls,capable of holding their own and having their way.

Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud quickly establish the simple audacity of their plot from the first scene,when the world discovers that the Pyramid of Giza has been stolen after a naughty American toddler falls onto the structure,only to soar bouncing back. A hysterical TV presenter quickly dubs the replacement of the pyramid with an “inflatable structure” the crime of the century.

Several,including Gru’s mother,mockingly ask him if he’s responsible,sending him propelling to a childhood dream,with a twist. As a boy he dreamed of going to the moon — his mother (Andrews) heard those plans with only half a ear and a full-throttled “Huh!”. Now he decides he will not only go to the moon but steal it. How? After reducing it to a pocket-sized ball with the Shrink-Ray.

Gru has with him his “minions”,hundreds of lovable humanoid pint-sized robots dressed in overalls,and his researcher Dr Nefario. Only Vector in his tight orange track suit dogs him every step of the way.

Carrell portrays with great deftness a man caught between two worlds – being a big villain or a good father – and struggling to keep his soft interior hidden inside his hard shell. Hear the break in his voice when he tells the bedtime story or when he lingers at the door when asked by the youngest girl for a goodnight kiss.

Segel is equally good in his portrayal of the vain Vector who lives in a bubble largely provided for by a rich daddy,while the girls are lovable without being corny.

However,perhaps the most lingering scene of Despicable Me is when Gru dons the spacesuit his girls have dyed pink and proudly gets into the rocket for moon – an ordinary little man living out an extraordinary dream. The giant step for mankind does seem,in that brief second,a small enough step for man.