Despicable Me

by Courtney Hilden

Despicable Me, the latest from Pixar, follows Gru, a bad guy from some Eastern European country. (I thought he was Hungarian, though I've seen others identify him as Russian.) His latest scheme is to steal the Moon, and to do so, he's decided he needs the shrink ray of Vector, another evil villain who spends time building various rays that shoot out sea life. Vector has ordered cookies from a group of girls, who Gru adopts.At this point, you probably don't need to hear about the rest of the plot, because this is a Hollywood movie, so you can already guess that Gru will soften to the girls and then reverse his evil plan for stealing the Moon. The plot is standard, but only if you think about it. It's handled well-enough that it's easy to just sit back and smile. The art is now standard for Pixar, which is not to say it's bad, but it isn't game-changing. It mostly just is.
This is not to say that there are some interesting flourishes along the way, because there are.
The opening scene, including the American family on a trip to Egypt, merit an entire movie in their own right, maybe one following their trips around the world. Pharrell Williams, the more famous member of the duo the Neptunes, is given credit for scoring the music. The song he recorded for the movie is delightful. It combines a Hitchcockian beat with a slight side of gangster. Pharrell should consider doing more music for movies, because he's clearly talented at doing more than remixes and making great dance songs. There was even an on-the-nose joke likening Lehman Brothers to the fictional Bank of Evil, a rare shoutout at current events.