Despicable Me

CGI animation is such a crowded field these days that I often don’t even see the movies unless they get very good reviews. That’s because such a high percentage of them are nothing but sound and fury and movement, frenetic action for the sake of action. 3D animation can be the worst, because they are forever thrusting things in your face. Will they ever get tired of that? This one was reviewed well, but not ecstatically, so I waited for the DVD, and non-3D. It’s pretty good. This is a world with no superheroes, only would-be villains of varying competence. Our main character/villain is Gru, who may be losing his bad-guy mojo to an ex-nerd (he thinks; you can never really take the nerd out of the boy) named Vector, who has just stolen the Great Pyramid. (He’s got it stashed behind his supervillain headquarters, painted blue with white clouds as camouflage. Funny.) Gru sets out to steal the Moon, but Vector thwarts him at every turn. He has to enlist the aid of three orphan girls to take advantage of Vector’s Girl Scout cookie jones. Yeah … well, it makes more sense when you see it. The girls gradually soften Gru’s evil intentions. This is probably aimed at a younger audience than me, but I enjoyed it.