Despicable Me (2010) ****

Poor Gru (Steve Carell). He's at the bottom of his career. He's being shown up by younger villains like Vector (Jason Segel), who has just stolen one of the Pyramids of Giza. Gru is a washed up failure, but he has a job set up that will put him back on top- the theft of the moon and the last piece to his plan are three orphan girls selling cookies.

Being from the over saturated genre of computer animated films, Despicable Me is like the mirror of the standard rehash that we get every summer. It's not a dark film, but it does give off the vibe of being a distant cousin to the Addams Family. Where the comic strip was a macabre look at the nuclear family and the television show was a sort of anti-sitcom, Despicable Me is an anti-animated movie. Other than the three girls there are no heroes in this film- everyone is a villain. The main point of the film is who can be the baddest. Who can do the more dastardly deed? It's a competition of the infamous. Naturally the characters grow as the film progresses and the villainy isn't as pronounced as it was early in the film, but it still helps breath life in a stagnant genre. 

This is a film for kids and there are various prat falls and humor to keep the youngsters happy, but there's stuff for the adults, too. This isn't a complete infantilefest, so don't worry about going nuts for an hour and a half. Despicable Me is a well crafted animated film that doesn't really dare to break the rules, but bends them enough to be interesting. Other than Pixar films, this is one of the best animated films I've seen in awhile.