Despicable Movie

I'll admit it: I have a weak spot for most animated films. Whether that's because I'm still a kid at heart, because animated films tend to be better than many live action ones, or some other reason is debatable, but chances are good that if a film is animated, I'll walk out of the theater raving about it. I won't be doing that with Despicable Me, however. This one is just not as much fun as its trailers promised it would be, and I'm surprised and disappointed to say I just didn't enjoy it all that much.

Despicable Me features Steve Carell as the voice of Gru, the world's second-most-feared super villain. Gru is determined to steal the moon, but first he's got to beat his brand-new nemesis, Vector (Jason Segel), and he's got to avoid falling for the three young girls he adopts (for less-than-pure purposes, of course). Yes, that means this one's a cute heartwarmer. So instead of being wacky and whimsical, and showing these two villains doing battle to one-up each other, we see Gru's heart melting for the girls. Don't go to this movie expecting lots of laughs.

If you go to Despicable Me, you can probably also save yourself a few bucks and not see it in 3D. Other than a cool scene on a roller-coaster, there's not much notable about the effect. In fact, save this one for the DVD, and let the kids enjoy it. Unlike, say, Toy Story 3 there's not as much to charm adults, and if you're like me, you'll be checking your watch a couple times, waiting for it to be over. I'm giving Despicable Me a B–.