Despicable Me (guest reviewer!)

Despicable Me is being reviewed by a guest reviewer - the Super Mommy! The Movie Mommy thanks the Super Mommy for this timely review.

I recently read a review of Marmaduke that bemoaned the fact there’s nothing really new under the sun when it comes to kids’ movies. And after seeing my share of sweet but uninspired kids’ movies this summer, I was inclined to agree. That is, until we saw Despicable Me. Here’s a kids’ movie that’s not only warm and funny, but original too!

Steve Carrell (of The Office and Horton Hears a Who) voices the lead character, Gru, a “super-villain” who lives in an awesomely scary-looking house sandwiched amid the cookie-cutter houses of suburbia, with a host of “minions.” Gru’s minions are the cutest animated characters since Wall-e, and they bring a lot of personality and humor to the film. Gru’s fearsome facade masks a sad upbringing at the hands of a singularly unsupportive mother (voiced by, of all people, Julie Andrews). Like any misbehaving child, Gru hatches ever-escalating “evil” exploits to win his mother’s approval and attention.

When a younger, competing super-villain (Vector, voiced by Jason Segel) steels Gru’s thunder by pulling off the heist of the century – swiping the Great Pyramid of Giza – Gru decides it’s time to pull out all the stops and show up this newbie by … wait for it … stealing the moon. While plotting his greatest exploit yet, Gru turns away from his door three cute-as-heck little orphan girls who are out selling cookies to raise money for their orphanage. Turns out, however, the tykes are integral to his moon plans – Vector has a sweet tooth and the girls are Gru’s ticket into his competitor’s inner sanctum, where Gru plans to steal a shrink ray essential to his plot. While Gru sees the girls as his ticket to successfully stealing the moon, the tots – Margo, Edith and Agnes – have other plans, namely to turn Gru from “superbad” into “superdad.”

Carrell, Segal, Andrews and the actresses who voice the three girls (Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher) do a great job conveying all the humor and emotion the storyline demands. And the animation is on a par with Pixar’s best – character facial expressions, in particular, are masterfully executed.

Like any good children’s movie, Despicable Me has plenty of cute characters, a heart of gold, ample laughs for adults and kids (including a hilarious fart joke), and an important message to convey about the nature of family and love. Parents will relate to Gru’s struggle to accept his transformation from the super villain that he always thought he was (Who were you before you had kids?) into a responsible, nurturing parent. And everyone will be charmed by the girls’ moxie and the minions’ cuteness.

But it’s the creative plot that really gives the film its originality, and sets a stage for all those familiar kids’ film elements to play out in a new, fun and exciting way. How can an evil – “despicable” – character like Gru turn into a father for three little orphan girls who desperately want one?

Maybe Gru, like many of us who always thought of ourselves as improbable parents, isn’t quite so “despicable” – or inept – as he thinks he is.

MMMM1/2 M's (out of 5)

ECLIPSE (the only review you need to read!)

On a lovely Friday morning I hit the early showing of Eclipse. The phenomenon that is the Twilight saga is not without merit. The books are just...well...okay. The movies, so far, have improved upon Stephanie Meyer's work. I attribute this to the fact that she did not write the screenplays. Moving on to the movie! (Note: I am not going to go into who the characters are, etc. I am going to assume you have some inkling of the story so far.)

Eclipse: The Twilight saga, by definition meaning long heroic story, continues with this third installment. I loved it! The writing and definitely directing have all improved in this movie. And, well, the saga continues...
Eclipse picks up where New Moon (which I also liked) left off. Edward proposed to Bella, Jacob Black is a werewolf (as is all the studs in his tribe) and Victoria is on the lose still looking to have Bella for lunch. Things are pretty much the same at the start Eclipse. Bella wants to become a vampire so she can stay with Edward forever and his condition is that they get married. She, of course, sees the only reason a recent high school graduate gets married is because she is knocked up. There is a very funny scene with Bella's father, Charlie, as she asks him about the merits of marriage. He starts to have the "talk" with her about sex and she is not into it. Little scenes like this in the movie I find to make the characters seem real. The thing I like about the Twilight movies are that they make the teenagers seem like teenagers - at least to me. They are not stereotypical teenagers but just kids. That is refreshing! Their biggest worry should be the prom and graduation. Bella on the other hand has a lot more to deal with, like knowing vampires and werewolves, but those teenage things still are at play.
Some nice things that are in the book and the movie are the backgrounds of some of the Cullen family like Jasper and Rosalie. As well as some stories of the Quileute tribe on the history of the shape shifting wolves (basically they are not werewolves in the traditional sense) and their early encounters with "the cold ones."
On the horizon there is trouble as someone is creating a "new born" vampire army that will be bent on Bella's destruction. There is a little visit from the Volturi and an uneasy truce between the Cullen's and the werewolves to protect the town of Forks and Bella. There are some great werewolf/vampire fight scenes at the climactic battle that is very satisfying for the guys in the audience (of which there are few!).
Part of this wonderful vampire action might be in part to it's director, David Slade, who also directed Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night. I consider 30 Day of Night to be quintessential vampire movie viewing (also reviewed on this blog). His direction says a lot about this movie. Not only his ability to direct action and gore but to have the individuals react with believable emotion.
I did think that the Eclipse book was the weakest of the series and really could have been one big book with Breaking Dawn (that is why I am not impressed by her writing...she is not concise enough). I hope that Slade directs the next one and brings his magic!
There is always the question asked of which camp or team I am with - Jacob or Edward? I will make this easy - Dr. Cullen! He is more my age and, after all, he's a doctor.
MMMM (out of 5 M's)