Robbie said Despicable Me sucked. How? I wanna know the pros and cons befor I waste 20 bucks, + popcorn, chocolate, Gummi Bears, Pepsi, Goobers, Gum...
YOU! OBEY THE FIST!^Personally, I thought that 90% of the funny lines were spoiled by the trailers, and that left me bored with stock characters who's motives I didn't understand. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but the characters just didn't feel that interesting.
Also hated the minions. They had one joke, they couldn't talk, and it was repeated over and over. Way too much time.
Also Also, how did the girls manage to afford private dance tutors? It's not like they're well off financially.
Yeah, the ballet lessons were a bit of a Wall Banger. And the best stuff was in the trailers, but that's pretty typical for most movies.
I liked the minions, though, they remind me of the Rabbids.
—R.J.
^While it's true that Trailers Always Spoil the best lines, usually there's at least something left over. The only point in the movie that got a laugh out of me (as opposed to a smirk), was the part with the macaroni prototype.
Compare that to say, Toy Story 3, another recent movie I saw a bunch of trailers for. I knew about spanish mode, and several a few other gags. However the movie still had many gags to offer. Like Mr. Tortilla head, and Barbie's political savy
Also Toy Story 3 had a more engaging cast and plot, but that's not really the fault of the marketing department.
Yeah, well, Toy Story 3 is by Pixar, so it's hardly a fair fight.
I think Despicable Me could have come close if there were a few more rewrites to tighten things up a bit.
—R.J.
I felt like Despicable Me was one of those movies that you fall in love with in the theater, then when you step back a bit you find it's not that amazing. I guess when you think about it, it's pretty predictable and a little on the saccharine side, but while I was watching it it was just adorable. I wouldn't say it's a comedy, though. It was mostly just Toilet Humor, and towards the end it took on a more serious tone. But I think it makes up for its lack of funny with cute kids and some heartwarming moments.
"War doesn't prove who's right, only who's left." "Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future."^ "Mostly Toilet Humor?"
I counted exactly one toilet humor joke in the whole movie (the fart gun), which was completely overshadowed by the "Boogie Robot" scene.
My review of Despicable Me
Saw this movie at the Drive In, with no particular bias one way or another.
The movie started out funny enough, but it quickly became clear what this movie was going for.
Cute. They were trying so hard, I practicly gagged. The minions weren't bad by themselves, but they kept being inserted gratuitiously into almost every scene.
And then there were the three girls. They were clearly supposed to be individuals. Individuals that had the same interest. Going to dance class that their orphanage mother expy of Mrs. Hannigan from Annie oh- so-lovingly let them take. Yeah.
The oldest one dressed like a teenager, but looked around the age of eleven. She was also a bit of a smart aleck.
The middle one was generic, with no real mini character arc of her own.
Then we get to the youngest one. It was clear that every word that came out of her god damn mouth was supposed to make you go awwwww. It would work if they tried it for only a couple of instances, but every single time? Really?
Also, the whole orphans thing was clichéd. I had assumed they were actually his kids, and they had been sent to him ala The Game Plan. That had made more sense. If this guy could build robot cookies, why not JUST build a robot girl?
More importantly, WHY were the girls still selling the cookies? It was clearly something that you had to do as part of the orphanage. It would've made more sense if they never wanted to see another lawyer friendly girl scout cookie again.
Finally, the plot was very half baked. Many subplots were started that never got followed up on. Gru has mommy issues? MAGICALLY SOLVED. Old assistant doesn't liked the kids? MAGICALLY SOLVED. Giant Banker dude? MAGICALLY FORGOTTEN.
Finally, they carried out Gru's character development horribly. The 'get the unicorn' bit was believable enough, but then they just SKIPPED over everything else, with only them returning home from the carnival. It shows nothing about how Gru lightened up enough to get his face painted or anything like that. Finally, everything after wards, in the montage that should have taken place at the carnival, shows the girls as more annoying than something that has grown on Gru.
And that is what I thought of Despicable Me.
New User Handle^ Er... well, I don't know about the "mommy issues" and the banker thing being "magically solved," and the whole "Dr. Nefario being anti-kids" was mainly because they were getting in the way of the "steal the moon" plot, which fell apart anyway, so he had no real reason to have animosity towards them.
Obviously the main reason the banker quite have the threat he did in the beginning of the movie was because Gru wasn't relying on him anymore and was doing everything himself, though him not reappearing was... disappointing.
Meanwhile, the mom issues were solved by way of "my mother was horrible and I'm resolving to be a better parent than that." Her final scene in the movie shows that she's still a fairly despicable person.
@Known: But there was never any delving into his mommy issues. Yes. He had them. WHAT did that contribute to the plot AT ALL?
New User Handle^^^ They were funny and they gave a basic explanation for his character / motivations.
I'm here to discuss about the Mega Mind's trailers...
So um... Hmm, were they planning to have Metroman survive since from beginning, or did they get too scared of killing him?
(I put those into spoiler tags since it seems that almost nobody in this thread knew(judging from being worried that its 'wimpy super villain vs jerk Superman' premise) what was the premise of the movie.)
edited 2nd Oct '10 8:12:15 AM by SpookyMask
Eh, don't expect much from this one...The trailer started off well enough because it seemed like they would be creating a protagonist who actually has brains, only to turn him into the Contractually Genre Blind Card-Carrying Villain that we have seen a million times before. Plot sounds pretty bland so far, too. I hate it when a movie is about subversion and nothing more.
Well, we'll see.

Still, it was an enjoyable enough movie. Worth the ticket price, and as good an excuse as any to eat popcorn until you hate yourself.
edited 19th Jul '10 3:27:32 AM by Shadowtext