The Greatest Villain of All Time
Back Stage
*SASA MAJUMA
| Friday October 29, 2010 00:00
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'.
Three orphans, working systematically under the leadership of Margo (voice of Miranda Cosgrove), a girl who is a little older, wears large spectacles, and has a sense of responsibility, have reached Gru's domain.
Turned away at the door, Margo, Edith (voice of Dana Gaier) and little Agnes (voice of Elsie Fisher) know very well that what they hear is not a recorded message. Gru has already demonstrated his ambivalence, and that deep with in that he has a spark of humanity buried in his soul. He stops to charm a crying child only to quickly turn cruel and villainous again.
Cru's scheme, added and abetted by an even snouttier inventor, Dr Nefario (voice of Russell Brand) is simply to kidnap the moon and become recognised as The Greatest Villain of All Time.
So far he has stolen a sign from Times Square, Manhattan, and the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty, but not from Paris and New York, but replicas from Las Vegas. At his disposal is a multitude of one and two-eyed Minions, robots with perception and feelings - Gru even knows them by name.
To achieve his dream Gru must have seed money, enough to build a rocket to get to the moon. He goes to the Bank of Evil; Mr Perkins (voice of Will Arnett) chaired by Gru's nemesis's father no less. Perkins tells him to get lost until he has the Shrink Ray that can reduce the moon to the size of softball. Gru doesn't know that Perkins' son is the incoming master villain, Vector a.k.a Victor (voice of Jason Segel). The Bank of Evil won't stake Cru because he is a has been who doesn't even have the shrink gun.
All the elements of this story are now laid out. Vector has an Achilles heel - he loves coconut cookies.
Vector lives in a fortress defended by all of the latest hardware and roaming sharks. If Cru can acquire Margo, Edith and Agnes he will have an entree into Vector's fortress.
But once encased in Cru's weird house of evil, whose light will win out? The three young girls have always wanted to be adopted, but not by someone the ilk of Cru. Still anything might be better than Miss Hattie and the House of Girls. Can they succeed in putting their foot down in unison: as ballet dancers in Swan Lake; as children to whom a good night story should be read; and last, but not least, as loving girls who deserve a kiss? Cru, with his stone-cold heart, wants none of this nonsense.
The route to resolve all these issues is certainly not straight forward, (it even involves some toilet humour that is totally unnecessary), it is all unfortunately too predictable - but it is imaginative - there our laughs, and it can be fun. As one of the girls says, 'I like him - he's nice, but scary'. The whole thing is intended for 3D glasses - thus the compulsory roller-coaster ride - to make you feel queasy as you go up, and down and around about.
Despicable Me is one hour and 32 minutes. It is rated PG. It is in American English. The directors are Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud. The script is by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (from a story by Sergio Pablos). The production designer is Yarrow Cheney. The editors are Gregory Peter and Pam Ziegenhagen. The music is by Pharrell Williams and Heitor Pereira. The CGI are credited to Illumination Entertainment.