Despicable Me (film)

Despicable Me is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment (in its debut film) and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the first installment in the Despicable Me franchise. Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud (in their directorial debuts) from a screenplay by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, the film stars the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett, and Julie Andrews.

Despicable Me premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival on June 19, 2010, and was released in the United States on July 9. The film received positive reviews and grossed over $546 million worldwide against a budget of $69 million. At the time of release, the film became the 14th-highest-grossing animated film of all time. The film is also the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2010. The success of Despicable Me launched a multimedia franchise and a series of two sequels and two prequels, starting with Despicable Me 2 (2013).

Plot
Longtime supervillain Gru has his pride hurt when an anonymous rival steals the Great Pyramid of Giza and replaces it with an inflatable replica. In retaliation, he, his elderly assistant Dr. Nefario, and his army of Minions concoct a plan to shrink and steal the Earth's Moon. Dr. Nefario worries they cannot afford this, so Gru applies for a loan from Mr. Perkins, the director of the Bank of Evil. Mr. Perkins asks Gru to impress him first by stealing the shrink ray. While at the bank, Gru meets young supervillain Vector, and learns he is the mastermind behind the Pyramid heist.

Gru and two of his Minions successfully steal the shrink ray from a research base, but Vector intercepts them and steals it for himself. Gru tries to break into Vector's fortress to get it back, but cannot penetrate Vector's defenses. He notices three orphan girls named Margo, Edith, and Agnes gain access to Vector's fortress because they are selling cookies for Miss Hattie, their orphanage matron. Gru decides to disguise himself as a dentist and adopt the girls, planning to use them in his plot to get the shrink ray back and return them once the scheme comes off.

Gru's attempts at parenting are initially disastrous, as he has no clue what to do with children. Things are further complicated by their ballet practices, the girls discovering his underground lair, and Dr. Nefario's skepticism to his plan. Gru eventually manages to use the girls to distract Vector long enough for him to get the shrink ray back, but the girls insist upon stopping at a carnival on the way home. Gru finds himself enjoying his time with the girls, and they begin to bond.

Gru shows Mr. Perkins, via video call, that he has the shrink ray, though the girls interrupt the call. Mr. Perkins still claims he is not impressed, and refuses the loan. Seeing Gru sad that he would not be able to steal the Moon, the girls give him their piggy bank. Inspired, the Minions pool all their resources, and Gru begins to sell his belongings to raise the money needed for the project.

Dr. Nefario calculates that they will have to go for the Moon when its orbit brings it closest to Earth, but the day is the same as the girls' ballet recital. Dr. Nefario, fearing that Gru is too distracted, calls Miss Hattie himself to tell her to take the girls back, believing it best for everyone. Meanwhile, Mr. Perkins (revealed to be Vector's father) informs him of Gru's possession of the shrink ray, prompting Vector to take action.

Gru successfully shrinks and steals the Moon. He tries to make it home in time for the ballet recital, only to find out Vector had kidnapped the girls. Hurrying to the fortress, Gru gives Vector the Moon, but he refuses to hand over the girls. Gru fights his way through Vector's defenses, causing him to fly away with the girls and the Moon in his aircraft. Meanwhile, Dr. Nefario and the Minions discover that the effects of the shrink ray are only temporary; the larger the object, the faster it returns to normal size. They and Gru perform a daring mid-air rescue of the girls before the Moon returns to its normal size and launches itself into orbit, stranding Vector on it.

Sometime later, Gru reads the girls a bedtime story he wrote based on his experiences, and they confess love for one another. The girls perform a special ballet recital for Gru, his mother, Dr. Nefario, and the Minions. One Minion decides to change the song to something more dance-party style, starting a rave.

Voice cast
Credits adapted from the British Film Institute.


 * Steve Carell as Gru
 * Jason Segel as Vector
 * Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario
 * Miranda Cosgrove as Margo
 * Dana Gaier as Edith
 * Elsie Fisher as Agnes
 * Will Arnett as Mr. Perkins
 * Kristen Wiig as Miss Hattie
 * Julie Andrews as Marlena Gru
 * Pierre Coffin as Kevin, Tim, Bob, Mark, Phil, and Stuart
 * Chris Renaud as Dave
 * Jemaine Clement as Jerry
 * Jack McBrayer as a carnival barker and a tourist dad
 * Danny McBride as Fred McDade
 * Mindy Kaling as a tourist mom
 * Rob Huebel as an anchorman
 * Ken Daurio as an Egyptian guard
 * Ken Jeong as a talk-show host

Development
Despicable Me was initially developed by Sergio Pablos under the working title Evil Me. He later participated in development during the early stages of the production and took the package unsolicited to Universal Pictures, where he became the first of several screenwriters on the project as well as executive producer.

Producer Chris Meledandri left 20th Century Fox Animation as president in early 2007 to establish his own animation studio under Universal Pictures, which he named Illumination Entertainment. After buying the pitch from Pablos, Meledandri brought in screenwriters Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, with whom he'd worked on Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who (2008) while at Fox, to write the project. Soon after he brought together animators Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud to direct, with the Paris-based studio Mac Guff to handle animation. Coffin, who comes from Mac Guff, was recruited for his experience directing commercials for the studio, while Renaud was brought in for his animation experience in Blue Sky Studios. In November 2008, Illumination Entertainment announced the beginning of development on its first CGI animated film and project, Despicable Me.

Writing
The language spoken by the Minions was invented by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, the directors of the film. The language is sometimes nicknamed "Minionese".

Music


Despicable Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the film of the same name, and it was released on July 6, 2010. It featured new songs from the film written and performed by Pharrell Williams, and performances by Destinee & Paris, the Sylvers, Robin Thicke, and the Bee Gees.

Marketing
Universal Pictures partnered the film with licensing and promotional partners valued at $75 million for the marketing campaign. Additional marketing partners for the film included AirHeads, Church's Chicken, Hungry Jack's, Color Me Mine, American Express, Kodak, IHOP, and Best Buy.

Theatrical
Despicable Me premiered on June 19, 2010, at the Moscow International Film Festival, and was released in the United States on July 9, 2010.

Home media
Despicable Me was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on December 14, 2010. The release included three new short films, titled Home Makeover, Orientation Day, and Banana.

Box office
Despicable Me grossed $251.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $291.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $543.1 million, against its $69 million budget.

In the United States and Canada, Despicable Me opened at the number one spot at the box office and pulled in $56.3 million, making it the third-biggest opening grossing for an animated film in 2010 behind Toy Story 3 and Shrek Forever After. In its second weekend, the film dipped 42% to second place behind Inception (2010) with $32.8 million earned. The film then had another drop of 28% in its third weekend and finished in third place with $23.7 million.

Critical reception
The website's critical consensus reads, "Borrowing heavily (and intelligently) from Pixar and Looney Tunes, Despicable Me is a surprisingly thoughtful, family-friendly treat with a few surprises of its own." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three stars out of four, saying the directors were skilled at "springing surprises" from the writers' "ingenious" screenplay. Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "Since villains so often steal the show in animation, Despicable Me smartly turns the whole operation over to megalomaniacal rogue Gru." Robert Wilonsky of The Village Voice wrote, "The result is pleasant and diverting, if ultimately forgettable, and it's one of the rare instances in the recent history of 3-D's resurrection as The Savior of Cinema in which the technology doesn't dim the screen or distract the focus." Christy Lemire of the Associated Press wrote, "Kids will dig it, adults will smile with amusement, and no one will be any different afterward than they were walking into the theater." Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic gave the film three and a half stars out of five, saying, "Neither as rich in story nor stunning in animation as Pixar offerings, Despicable Me instead settles for simply being goofy good fun, and it hardly seems like settling at all."

Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "Short, sweet-and-sour, and amusing rather than funny, Despicable Me can't help but be likable." Colin Covert of the Star Tribune gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "You'll probably leave the theater smiling, but don't expect to be emotionally engaged, Pixar-style. You'll be tickled, not touched." Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "A whip-smart family movie that makes inventive use of the summer's ubiquitous 3-D technology is something worth cheering." Tom Keogh of The Seattle Times gave the film three stars out of four, saying "Despicable Me appeals both to our innocence and our glee over cartoon anarchy." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "Despicable Me has enough visual novelty and high spirits to keep the kiddies diverted and just enough wit to placate the parents." Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "The film is funny, energetic, teeth-gnashingly venomous and animated with an eye to exploiting the 3-D process with such sure-fire techniques as a visit to an amusement park." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "By taking the "heart" part just seriously enough, and in the nick of time, the movie saves itself from itself."

Kim Newman of Empire gave the film three stars out of five, saying, "It's no first-rank CGI cartoon, but shows how Pixar's quality over crass is inspiring the mid-list. Fun, with teary bits, for kids fresh and smart for adults." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "The film throws so much ersatz cleverness and overdone emotion at the audience that we end up more worn out than entertained." Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "Unfortunately Despicable Me is just, predictably eh. And the one thing the larcenous Gru never steals is our heart." Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "An improbably heartwarming, not to mention visually delightful, diversion." Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail gave the film four stars out of four, saying, "This animated thing pretty near out-Pixars Pixar." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film two stars out of four, saying, "When compared with the ambition and achievement of recent animated films, such as Coraline (2009) and Toy Story 3, Despicable Me hardly seems to have been worth making, and it's barely worth watching."

Bob Mondello of NPR gave the film an eight out of ten, saying, "It's all thoroughly adorable, and with an overlay that's nearly as odd as Carell's accent: Despicable Me looks a lot like other computer-animated pictures." A. O. Scott of The New York Times gave the film two stars out of five, saying, "So much is going on in this movie that, while there's nothing worth despising, there's not much to remember either." Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Despicable doesn't measure up to Pixar at its best. Nonetheless, it's funny, clever and warmly animated with memorable characters." Steve Persall of the Tampa Bay Times gave the film a B, saying, "Directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud craft a fun stretch run, wrapping the story with warm, fuzzy funnies and nothing to suggest a sequel, which is probably wise." Tasha Robinson of The A.V. Club gave the film a B, saying, "Until the creep + orphans = happy family formula starts demanding abrupt, unconvincing character mutations, Despicable Me is a giddy joy."

Sequels
A sequel, titled Despicable Me 2, was released on July 3, 2013 in the United States. It was produced by the same team that was behind the first film along with directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud and writers Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. Steve Carell, Russell Brand, and Miranda Cosgrove reprise their roles; Kristen Wiig and Ken Jeong returned but voiced new characters (Lucy Wilde and Floyd Eagle-san). New cast members included Benjamin Bratt as Eduardo, Gru's nemesis, and Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom.

Another sequel, titled Despicable Me 3, was released on June 30, 2017 in the United States. Like its predecessors, Carell, Wiig and Cosgrove reprised their roles for the third film, with Trey Parker of South Park fame as a new 80s-styled villain, Balthazar Bratt, while Carell, reprising Gru, was also cast as Gru's twin brother Dru.

A fourth film in the franchise is already in development.

Spin-off prequels
In July, 2012, a spin-off film about the Minions was in development. Originally set for a December, 2014 release, the film was released in July, 2015 to mixed reviews. While co-director Coffin reprised his role of the Minions, namely Kevin, Stuart and Bob, who were the centre of the film's storyline, other cast members included Sandra Bullock as female supervillain, Scarlet Overkill, John Hamm as her husband Herb, Allison Janney and Michael Keaton as the Madge and Walter Nelson, Jennifer Saunders as Queen Elizabeth II and narrated by Geoffrey Rush.

In January 2017, almost two years on following the film's box office success, a sequel was in development. With director Coffin and Carell reprising their roles, new cast members include Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, RZA, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless, Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo and Alan Arkin. Brand and Andrews will be returning in the film as Dr. Nefario and Gru's mother. Originally set for July 3, 2020, the film was postponed to July 2, 2021, being pushed back recorded to June 30, 2022.