Despicable Me

It looks adorable! Might not venture out to AMC on opening weekend, but will definitely be going to see it at some point this summer. I love a good animated film.

(I was going to say I love a good Pixar and had second thoughts. It's a Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment flick! Is it bad that I'm shocked when a promising animated movie doesn't come from Pixar?)

TB4me2000 said:

It looks adorable! Might not venture out to AMC on opening weekend, but will definitely be going to see it at some point this summer. I love a good animated film.

(I was going to say I love a good Pixar and had second thoughts. It's a Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment flick! Is it bad that I'm shocked when a promising animated movie doesn't come from Pixar?)

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Actually, I didn't think this was Pixar. For me, Pixar always seems a little more imaginative and less obvious.

This plot seems good, but Pixar is GREAT!!!

Overall, this looks like it will be a decent film, but I wouldn't expect it to be at Pixar's level of excellence.

Incidentally, I wouldn't be surprised if the company doing the film does not advertise their name. They'd benefit more from people automatically assuming its a Pixar film

Mel...

3D? *yawn*

It does look like it'll be pretty funny. Particularly the old guy. "No, I said a dart gun, not a..."

Steve Carrell is undoubtably funny in this animated film.

Animation isn't an easy process. Kudos to all animated filmmakers!

I don't really care about 3D, but the movie looks like a lot of fun. I like the scene about the 'dart gun' too!

Going to see it tomorrow - looks like a fun romp!

hee hee... "dart" gun...

*snorgles*

Wavy_Blue said:

Despicable Me is aggregating a pretty decent score over at RT, and besides Shrek Forever After, I can't think of a recent animated film that has really been terrible. In fact, they've been quite good. Things like How to Train Your Dragon, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Kung Fu Panda all came out of non-Pixar animation studios, and I can't help but wonder if they've been closely studying Pixar's work to understand why they are so successful.

Either way, I definitely like this uphill trend in animation.

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I'd think they'd have to be idiots not to pay attention to Pixar.

Even when people say an animated feature was bad (Shrek sequels seem to get a lot of flack). A bad animated feature is no where near as bad as a bad live action feature.

Its just that when all the animation is great, then an okay feature looks like a turd when standing next to what Pixar has done.

Overall, Pixar has raised the bar. The viewing public has gotten acclimated to quality animation and so if you are making an animated feature, you better bring your A-game.

As oppossed to live action features, where the public is accustomed to eating the cinematic equivalent of dog food.

The last component is that Animated features just have to be well written. They don't get the lift from big named actors that live action features get. Truth be told, I really don't care who does the voices. It doesn't register to me in the same way that it does for live action. I've never once thought "Wow, i'm going to see that animation because so and so is doing the voice."

Add all those reasons up, and animation just has to be better than live action IMO. In fact, I think there have been several animations that should have won best picture.

Mel...

It's really cute and fun, but a bit too Loony Toons. Definitely very enjoyable and suitable for the younger kids (age 5 to 12). A bit too "kiddie" for me, though, and don't even try to explain the logic. If you have young kids, take them, they'll laugh their asses off (plenty of potty humor). If you have older kids, take them to see Toy Story 3 instead.

Laughed my tushie off. Want minions. LOTS of minions.

Also, noticed that Gru's front hall decor resembles ours a bit too much.

Someone's been spying...

(Seriously, GREAT movie! Go, enjoy!)

I loved it and so did my mids including my JR. High aged son, so I don't know about "little kid" humor. I didn't think guys ever outgrew fart jokes.

I totally need minions now.

I've seen the ads and crossover promo on TV, and all I can think is how much they want me to fall in love with the minions. Sorry, I'm taking a pass.

The best minions are the ones from Evil Genius.



damn, now I NEED to reinstall that game. Thanks, Despicable Me.

dgiharris said:

Even when people say an animated feature was bad (Shrek sequels seem to get a lot of flack). A bad animated feature is no where near as bad as a bad live action feature.

Its just that when all the animation is great, then an okay feature looks like a turd when standing next to what Pixar has done.

Overall, Pixar has raised the bar. The viewing public has gotten acclimated to quality animation and so if you are making an animated feature, you better bring your A-game.

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Interesting thoughts.

Does anyone else miss more traditionally animated films like I do?

kuwisdelu said:

Does anyone else miss more traditionally animated films like I do?

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I do. But only GOOD ones. The last hand-drawn films are kind of bleh.

I can't wait to see DM - or Toy Story 3. Saw the trailer when we went to see Shrek Forever After on Saturday - which was up to the usual Shrek standard, i.e. great, great fun.

From the trailer, the main character of DM reminded me in a way of Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb: klutzy, sympathetic not-so-evil villain. I think I'm going to love it.

3D is a fun gimmick for the moment, but it's not a game-changer. Judging by the ads before the film, it works fine for animation, but not so much for, er, non-animated film.

poetinahat said:

3D is a fun gimmick for the moment, but it's not a game-changer. Judging by the ads before the film, it works fine for animation, but not so much for, er, non-animated film.

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With the exception of Avatar. That movie should be seen in Real 3D.

maestrowork said:

With the exception of Avatar. That movie should be seen in Real 3D.

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Noted - thanks! If I become convinced that it's my cup of tea, then I'll see the 3D version. But I haven't seen a Star Wars film since Return of the Jedi, and I've only ever seen maybe two Star Trek episodes, and no films, in my life. So I'm not a likely candidate!

* crosses Rob off my nerd/geek cool friend list *

maestrowork said:

I do. But only GOOD ones.

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Well, I figured that went without saying.

maestrowork said:

* crosses Rob off my nerd/geek cool friend list *

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I used to be cool! Who knew!

I just bought this movie on DVD. It's called Verschrikkelijke Ikke in Dutch. Despite being fairly immature and definately less than subtle, it's a great film for children. My son is almost 5 [film is rated 6+, but who's counting?] and he enjoyed the movie and the three shorts in the bonus section.

Our local theater was reshowing this for $1 a ticket this summer, so I took the kids...and I loved it. One of the better kids movies I've seen in a long time.