Director: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud Starring: voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove Running Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes Theatrical Release: July 9, 2010 Shop for Despicable Me Merchandise

Plot Summary

In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon (Yes, the moon!) in Universal’s new 3-D CGI feature, “Despicable Me.” (from MovieWeb.com)

Film Review

It’s intriguing how deceiving movie trailers (previews) can be. So far this year, three of the less impressive trailers – for How To Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3, and Despicable Me – have turned out to represent some of the best animated movies to come along in awhile (and some of the best movies this year, period). The most recent, the awkwardly titled Despicable Me (I’d love to hear a little child try to pronounce this one) didn’t look super promising from its hit-and-miss advertisements. However, the truth is quite the opposite as Despicable Me easily joins the aforementioned titles as some of the most fun you’ll have at the movie theater with the family this year.

Despicable Me takes a devious, dark-souled character with aspirations for being the world’s greatest villain named Gru, and teams him with three quirky orphan girls who he meets one day while they’re out trying to sell cookies to raise money for their orphanage. When Gru gets the inspiration to use them to help his dastardly plans of stealing the moon, he finds parenthood an unlikely kink in his ingenious plan. This was one theme that the trailers didn’t divulge in great detail, but it’s quite a huge plot element — the potential greatest villain in the world suddenly finds himself a father — and it stirs up emotions within him he never knew he had. The film then touches on his own childhood a little bit, giving the audience some insight into why Gru may be up to his no-good trickery. But with most of his “evil” ways, we see that he really isn’t all that good at being bad, and this becomes an important lesson in the story that redeems the potentially dark thematics that the title and premise might suggest.

And that lighter tone can be attributed greatly to the ensemble of little yellow overall-suited minions that accompany Gru in his quest. The minions can probably most closely be compared to the three-eyed little green aliens from Toy Story, but are given a lot more character and personality individually. They do, however, cause a lot of mischief, some that might be imitated by children — like poking each other, punching each other in the arm hard, or, in the worst case, photocopying their butts and giggling at the print-out. Still, everything from their look to their voices make all of their scenes highlights of the film. But to Steve Carell’s credit, the comedian does an absolutely fantastic job voicing the lead, Gru. Carell gives the pseudo-super-villain a quirky and believable European accent that makes the character sinister and lovable sometimes simultaneously. Carell puts his usual spunk into the performance and even though it seldom sounds like him, fans of his will still be able to locate the actor’s voice beneath the guise of the accent. Julie Andrews does a nice job as Gru’s mom, while crude comedian Russell Brand (he just starred in the R-rated Get Him To The Greek) is sufficient as Dr. Nefario. Miranda Cosgrove heads up the oldest of the three orphan girls, while little Elsie Fisher voices the smallest orphan, Agnes, who’s positively adorable every time she shows up or says something. Between Agnes, the minions, and Carell as Gru, these ingredients alone help make this a strong and fun film.

Really, the only downside to Despicable Me, in any form, is in the chief villain Vector. He’s supposed to be a big, goofy nerd, but he’s usually more irritating than funny (The “Oh yeaaaah!” that he says in the trailer isn’t funny then, and it isn’t funny by the fourth or fifth time he says it in the movie). Perhaps this is mostly due to Jason Segel (who is most known for crude comedies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall or I Love You Man) and his vocal performance of the character, as he plays up the nerdy angle, but Vector isn’t one of those villains you love to hate; you’re likely to just hate him.

Ultimately, Despicable Me is very much a pro-family film that injects a lot of heart – unexpectedly, even – into an outrageously silly and therefore fun movie. Despite the dismal title, heart and fun abound in Illumination Entertainment’s freshman release, Despicable Me. It’s fun, it’s silly, and it just might tug at your heartstrings.

Last week we posted the teaser trailer for the animated movie project starring Johnny Depp called Rango. If you watched the trailer, you probably came away thinking nothing in particular. However, courtesy of HeyUGuys (via FirstShowing) we get a look at Rango himself, the lizard voiced by Depp. And I must say, that is an awesome looking chameleon!

Thoughts? Now that we have something of substance to actually*think* about.

By the time our next, and final, Minion Monday rolls around…the pomp and circumstance surrounding the birth of America will have already taken place. So, much like a short-fused rocket, we’re gonna launch Fourth of July with the Minions a bit early.

Send your friends and family some holiday Minion Mail in the form of an explosive eCard, and be sure to check out the other cards available to menace your loved ones with.

Oh, those pesky Minions have taken over the office copy machine and you can upload your own photo to see the Minions giggling at your scarily scanned mug.

If you wish to play around with the Minions Making Copies, go here … then take/upload a photo and share your video on facebook, twitter or via email.

Your guess is as good as mine. All I know about Rango is that it’s an animated project directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) and stars Johnny Depp voicing the main character, whom — according to several short plot descriptions — is a chameleon with an identity crisis.

Watch the teaser below, but also feel free to check out the official movie web site. You’ll be greeted with the same backdrop as seen in the trailer, but there are a lot more things going on. And by “a lot more,” I simply mean the occasional vehicle passing by, tumbleweeds, circling birds and a roadrunner (which may or may not be a character from the movie). Who knows? If you stick around long enough, maybe you will spot some more occurrences of interest.

But I personally don’t have time for that, I have a Smurfs movie to go complain about.

On this very date, over two decades ago, animated movies were about to experience a rebirth. It was the summer of 1988, a film called Who Framed Roger Rabbit debuted to the general public as a technologically advanced cinematic breakthrough, and helped set forth a decade-long string of success for Disney — often referred to as the “Disney Renaissance.”

[Who Framed Roger Rabbit] simply fast tracked the Disney Renaissance … I believe that Rabbit truly set the stage for successful animated movies. This film reminded the execs that there was money to be made in animation.

So Roger Rabbit is widely acknowledged as being the springboard for some of the best Disney films to come out of “The House of Mouse” during the period 0f 1989-1999 — a span that included The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King among others.

What made Roger Rabbit so unique?

The movie combined live-action with animation, certainly not the first to blur the line between reality and make-believe. However, Roger Rabbit looked really, really good in comparison to its predecessors aiming for similar results.

To create the animation, over 85,000 hand-inked and painted cells were created and composited with the live-action backdrops, live-action characters, and hand-animated tone mattes (shading) and cast shadows using optical film printers. NO computer animation was used in creating the animations. Some scenes involved up to 100 individual film elements. Any live-action that had to be later composited was shot in VistaVision to take advantage of the double-area frame of the horizontal 35mm format. The finished film thus does not suffer from the increased grain that plagued previous live-action/animation combos such as Mary Poppins (1964).

Aside from the actual animation techniques utilized, another stand-out quality of Roger Rabbit centered around the fact that the film was a virtual cartoon smorgasbord combining several iconic characters from competing studios Disney and Warner Bros. on screen together for the first time ever. Never prior, and never after have beloved characters like Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Donald and Daffy Duck crossed over to interact on screen. Quite the nostalgic scene for animation enthusiasts, young and old. For a complete list of cameos listed by studio, go here.

"Nyaaa...What's up, Doc?" "I'm sorry, I don't have any catch-phrases, but...you know...I've inspired a few theme parks here and there."

And let’s not allow the great story be overshadowed. Director Robert Zemeckis and producer Steven Spielberg were, in essence, paying homage to the golden age of animation with heavy throwback references to over-the-top comedic cartoon violence and slapstick. 1947 Hollywood at its finest. If you are a younger reader and have not gotten around to laying your peepers on this classic, please do yourself a favor and give it a rent. But trust me, you can just buy it sight unseen and won’t regret adding it to your collection.

Oh, who am I kidding!? Jessica Rabbit is 1947 Hollywood at its finest!

Source(s):
futureworld84.blogspot.com
Wikipedia (Disney Renaissance)
IMDb

Want to have a sneaky little Minion to call your own? Visit the official Despicable Me facebook page and “like” it, then enter your information for a chance to win the following:

• 12″ desktop Minion
• Official Despicable Me t-shirt
• Pencil with Minion topper

Winners will be randomly chosen on a weekly basis through to the opening of the movie on July 9. Each winner will receive 2 prize packs.

We’ll start this Minion Monday off with the “Minion Maker.” You can personalize your own Minion and share your creation with others. For you soccer fans, currently the wardrobe includes football uniforms coinciding with the World Cup.

Below is the Minion my 9-year-old cranked out:

The first official trailer for a video game adaptation of DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind film was shown during the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo. Shown below is “Megamind: Ultimate Showdown” for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 — one of several games based on the upcoming movie starring Will Ferrell and Brad Pitt to be hitting gaming consoles and handhelds this Fall.

Will it be a Mega-flop like most movie video game tie-ins, or will it live up to its “Bad. Blue. Brilliant.” tagline? We’ll keep an eye out.

Director: Lee Unkrich Starring: voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Michael Keaton, Ned Beatty Running Time: 1 hour, 43 minutes Theatrical Release: June 18, 2010  Shop for Toy Story Merchandise

Plot Summary

Toy Story 3 welcomes Woody (voice of Tom Hanks), Buzz (voice of Tim Allen) and the whole gang back to the big screen as Andy prepares to depart for college and his loyal toys find themselves in… day care! These untamed tots with their sticky little fingers do not play nice, so it’s all for one and one for all as plans for the great escape get underway. (from MovieWeb.com)

Film Review

It’s kind of amazing to ponder the fact that the very first Pixar animated film, as well as the very first Toy Story film, landed fifteen years ago in 1995. The year debuted a new series and film studio that would capture the hearts of children and film fans for a decade and a half. The success of the endearing tale about toys that come to life when humans aren’t watching them spawned the arguably even better sequel in 1999, and the legacy of the Toy Story characters and franchise was made greater. Since then, a third chapter in the toys’ story was attempted at least once before by Disney – actually without Pixar’s team, even! – but thankfully, the original animation studio wouldn’t let the film be made by just anybody and eleven years after the last sequel, we finally are given the long awaited Toy Story 3.

It’s no secret that anticipation is high for a second sequel. Any child who loved either of the first two is eleven years older and the franchise will hold special nostalgia for them. In addition to those already in love with the characters, Toy Story 3 is armed and ready to win over an entirely new generation of Buzz and Woody fans – even to some children of the fans of the original film! But like any memorable trilogy in film history, Pixar takes Toy Story out with a rousing, climactic, and amazingly emotional finish. With each film, the set pieces and action, and even humor have been boosted, and Toy Story 3 wraps it all up in a nice little bow. Whether or not this really is the toys’ last ride remains to be seen, but Pixar doesn’t seem to be nearly as cash hungry as DreamWorks to just sloppily force out one Toy Story movie after another – as DW has done with Shrek – so they might actually do well to let this be it.

When Toy Story 3 begins, time has passed about as much for the characters as it has for the fans of the films. While the toys themselves don’t look as though they’ve shown a ton of aging or wear, we’ve found that Andy has graduated high school and is about to leave for college, his mom has aged accordingly, and even the family dog is old and having trouble getting around. Anyone who’s followed the Story may start to feel the growing pains of passing time as much as these characters do. The toys haven’t been played with in years and when they find themselves in a daycare surrounded by children, [most] of the toys have some renewed hope. But as can be expected, things are not all that they seem to be at Sunnyside Daycare, and Andy’s toys find themselves to be prisoners in their new home. Toy Story 3 is primarily about family, friendship, and growing older, and the plot ends up becoming much like an escape or prison break adventure. It’s also the most thematically heavy of the trilogy, which is not only its strength but possibly its only weakness. Some of the film’s events border on going too overboard with where the toys find themselves, which also leads to some moments that are so unbelievably emotional, you’re likely to be baffled as to how in the world we can care so stinkin’ much for fictional inanimate plastic figurines (and we DO!). But because Toy Story 3 possesses ample amounts of heart and sentiment, it won’t be a Story that fans of the franchise will soon forget.

It’s fun to follow Woody, Buzz and their friends on the adventures they experience throughout this trilogy, and it’s surreal to see them all together for a much different outing. Because the plot focuses a great deal on the prospect of them being discarded and trying to break out from the Daycare, there are quite a few dark, heavy, and even creepy scenes. The two creepiest characters include a worn out one-droopy-eyed baby doll that only coos like an infant (which is a little reminiscent of the doll head from the first film) and a cymbal monkey that screams and is only shown in dimly lit settings. While these moments aren’t quite as ominous or unsettling as some found in other animated films, they’re still likely to give some kids the willies, while other children still may even just have a hard time seeing their favorite toys go through some pretty intense stuff. The aforementioned overtly emotional, potentially over-the-top intense sequence is also so harrowing, it’s almost shocking that the studio let the story go there (i.e. taking our little toys to such dark and dangerous situations). There were a few moments I half-expected to have turned out to be imagined by a child or be a dream sequence because of how unexpected and fantastical they become. At the same time, it’s impressive to realize how Pixar can even make their audience care this much!

The potentially objectionable content of Toy Story 3 is limited to some brief, slightly borderline rude humor (mainly the flirtatious behavior between Ken and Barbie, or Ken’s awkward flamboyance), and a great deal of action, toy-related kinds of violence. But several scenes do threaten the very existence of Andy’s toys and include dark, menacingly lit villains which take the film to some pretty intense levels at times. It’s enough to want to consider when it comes to bringing the littler ones.

If you’re wondering whether to see this in 2D or 3D, we did see this in 3D and I found that, while it looks pretty and offered a neat effect at times, it was completely unneeded for the film and its plot. In fact, I got so used to the effect it brought to the look of the movie that it was very easy to even forget it was supposed to be 3D at all. Thankfully, Pixar did NOT gratuitously take advantage of the 3D technology to just feed the gimmick, so it probably won’t make a huge difference whether this is viewed in 2D or 3D.

When all is said and done, Pixar Animation Studios is still batting a thousand, delivering yet another solid feature film to the big screen. It may take another couple viewings to make the call whether it bests its predecessors, but for now, Toy Story 3 is a very funny, welcomed addition to a beloved franchise that will be as difficult to see conclude here as it is for Andy to choose the future of his famed childhood toys.