Despicable Me: A Pitiful Pixar Photocopy
If you ever want to see what Pixar does right, take a look at the competition! This trailer for Despicable Me is like a free animation course in how to get a near miss. The first thing you notice is that even though there’s some bounce to the animation (called ‘anticipation’) the comedic results are telegraphed and slow, so you don’t catch yourself laughing. On another level the sound effects sound like they’re from a library and you can tell that the voice actors are just regular screen actors with no audible character traits to their vocals. The results is a mediocre mass of mush that’s destined for the drug store value DVD bin in less than six months.
The other thing that I find despicable here is that the portrait of ugly Americans is itself ugly. I’m from a liberal background and I hate when conservatives bash Hollywood for “being out of touch with America”, but frankly the short glimpse of the characters in this film shows a real contempt for the audience which is something I despise in a film. If you don’t feel an empathy for the main characters on the screen you’re dead in the water — granted that may not be the case for a TV show, but for a film you’ve got to take me along for the trip and allow me to step into your shoes.
Here’s the official despicable description for the film:
“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 planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon, yes, the moon. Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. The world’s greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.”
By the way is it me or does some of that plot remind you of DreamWorks Animation’s Monsters vs Aliens?