Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Despicable Me (2010) - Renaud & Coffin's wonderfully conceptualized animation family comedy

2/23/2016

Despicable Me (2010) - Renaud & Coffin's wonderfully conceptualized animation family comedy

♥♥♥♥

1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Animation (lost to Toy Story 3)

+ Best New Franchise of the Year

The infectiously happy, effective poster for Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin's Despicable Me

Gru is an old-fashioned super-villain, who is getting overtaken by young up-and-comer Vector and his shrink ray. To get his cool back, he will have to steal the Moon, using the shrink ray and the help of, among others, his three sweet daughters.

Despicable Me looks somewhat similar to the great Megamind (2010), but it isn't quite as funny. The star-studded voice cast here mainly have the effect of making someone like me wonder which star is what character.
As the three girls move in with Gru, the story gets more sympathetic, although it never attains the heart of some of Pixar's best films, (Toy Story (1995) or Finding Nemo (2003), for instance.) On the other hand, the yellow minions and the hipster villain created here are rather funny.
The Despicable Me animation style and universe is full of fun and colors, 3D eye candy that will woo kids and a general upbeatnes that makes it hard to object to for anyone, though there might be those that will find it too much. I am full of admiration for its well-polished concept; an admiration similar to the one I felt for the first Transformers (2007).
Despicable Me is written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (The Lorax (2012), both) and directed by feature-debuting Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud (Despicable Me 2 (2013)).

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Pierre Coffin: Minions (2015) - Inocuous fun for kids (co-director)
Coffin and Chris Renaud: Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Fun craziness for everyone

Watch the amazing trailer for the movie here

Cost: 69 mil. $
Box office: 543.2 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Despicable Me premiered July 19 at the Moscow International Film Festival and runs 95 minutes. It is the first feature from Illumination Entertainment, and the film was heavily promoted and merchandised through Universal, NBC and connected companies. The general North American release was July 9. The film opened #1 with a 56.3 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 251.5 mil. $ (46.3 % of the total gross), becoming Universal's biggest domestic hit since The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). It became the 2nd highest grossing animated film in North America of the year behind Toy Story 3, and the 4th highest worldwide, behind Toy Story 3, Shrek Forever After and Tangled. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets for the film were the UK with 32.2 mil. $ (5.2 %) and France with 28.5 mil. $ (5.2 %). The film was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Golden Globe, losing to Toy Story 3. Its success spun the Despicable Me franchise that has resulted in Despicable Me 2 (2013), Minions (2015) and in 2017, Despicable Me 3. Despicable Me is certified fresh at 81 % with a 6.8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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2/23/2016

Despicable Me (2010) - Renaud & Coffin's wonderfully conceptualized animation family comedy

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