The Greatest Villain of All Time

We learn that some evil person has stolen a pyramid, and not Dr Gru this time. Gru aspires to be the greatest villain of all time and is saddened by finding he is far from it. There are frequent flashbacks to when Gru was a young boy and how he was treated by his harsh mother (voice of the great Julie Andrews). There are some odd ethnic allusions here that never quite add up to anything.

Gru's fortress, laboratory and space launching site are not tilted on the side of a remote mountain, but are part of his house, larger and darker than the others, one of a row of homes on a city street. Gru is more like a snowman come to life, with a carrot nose and spindly legs. He is a strange caricature of the mad scientist and Dickens's Scrooge. Also Dickensian is the Home for Girls, run by Miss Hattie (voice of Kristen Wiig). She sends her wards out house-to-house to sell cadies and cookies, but they must meet a sales quota or face spending the night in the "Box of Shame".