Energetic and entertaining

Despicable Me has a super villain named Gru,who freeze-dries people ahead of him in line at Starbucks and pops childrens balloons. He aims at being the Greatest Villain of All Time. When he hears that the Great Pyramid in Egypt has been stolen,his ego is tarnished,and he resolves to pull off the biggest heist in world history stealing the Moon.

Grus crew is an army of minions yellow pill-shaped humanoids in overalls and goggles! Grus most useful weapon is the Insta-Freeze Gun. His arch-rival,Vector,has stolen the Great Pyramid and the two bad men confront each other as they wait their turn to meet the bank manager. Before he can get a loan for the Moon heist,Gru has to get the Shrink Gun first. As he leaves he freezes Vector. Gru steals the Shrink Gun from a lab halfway round the world. But Vector steals it back from him. Getting through Vectors fortress is impossible,till Gru discovers his Nemesis soft spot – cookies sold by three orphan girls Margo,Edith and Agnes. Vector places a huge order. Gru adopts all three girls. When they deliver the cookies,the boxes also contain cookie robots,built by Grus Dr Nefario,who make their way in and enable Gru to steal the Shrink Ray Gun. He steals the Moon,while Vector has kidnapped the girls. Grus now ready to trade his trophy for the girls,when Nefario tells Gru that the shrink ray works only for a short time. Last seen,Vector and a humanoid are on the moon. The orphans work their little girl magic on Gru,Mama and the Minions.

Despicable Me is a well-made film,raising the bar on animation standards. A fresh plot with plenty of action. Spoofing the secret-agent genre,it has an overall appeal. The subtle satire gleaned from Grus predicaments caters to adult audiences. His adorable yellow minions will entertain the films younger audiences. Theres also a warm family subplot. Directors Pierre Coffin,Chris Renaud and Sergio Pablos have done justice to the script by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul. The voice- talent line up is the films ace up the sleeve. Steve Carell is wonderful as the voice of Gru. Jason Segel is the apt foil as Vector,the cocky contender. The young talents who voice Margo (Miranda Cosgrove ),Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) do competent jobs. But the films piece de resistance is Julie Andrews who voices Grus formidable acerbic Mama.

Despicable Me is a funny,energetic and exciting film.

Rating

A star each for direction,script,voice-talent and the animation.