Alphabetical movie - Despicable Me
I have kids so I own a lot of kid movies. When it comes to things like classic Disney films, Miyazaki films and Pixar films, you won't get any argument from me.
Films like Despicable Me, on the other hand, are movies that fall into a the category of films I call "stuff my kids liked that I thought was OK but picked up on DVD because it can keep them distracted when I'm trying to clean the kitchen."
To be fair, Despicable Me was the better of the two films that came out last year with the theme of "bad guys who become good guys due to the influence of a good person."
Megamind was the other and, because I still have kids, I'm sure I'll be writing about it when I get to the M's.
Lengthy digression aside, the reason I like Despicable Me more than Megamind is because of the minions.
If you've seen the film or ads for the film, you will know that Minions are little yellow guys shaped a lot like a burrito from Chipotle. There are, seemingly, an endless number of them who serve Gru in his extensive attempts to prove himself the greatest villain on Earth.
Imagine if Dr. Frankenstein had 1000's of Igors and they were all shockingly adorable. And shaped like a burrito. If you could imagine that and you think the concept is as entertaining as I do, you would probably enjoy at least part of Despicable Me.
If you are near a Chipotle when you start watching, I'm also guessing you'll be suffering from cravings by the end of the film.
The problem, of course, is that the minions are not in every moment of the film. Instead, it focuses on Gru, who is entertaining enough but suffers from a forced sounding Eastern European accent and three precocious little girls who are adorable. Also precocious.
Thing is, they aren't as adorable as the minions and therin lies the problem with the film.
Every time I watch it, I find myself thinking "I wonder what the minions are doing now?"
Because I figure it is probably more interesting than the guy with the fake accent and the precocious little girls. Who are also adorable.
I can honestly say that a film about minions playing handball seems like a more interesting prospect because the minions are that much better than the rest of Despicable Me.
Which is all the more remarkable because the rest of the film is actually pretty good.
Still, it is pretty clear the folks behind the film knew what they had in those little yellow hot dogs because I've seen stuffed Minions as prizes at the State Fair, most of the DVD advertising featured the minions and the cartoon short included on the DVD is all about - guess who?
So either the filmmakers managed to sex up an OK film on purpose or they struck a killer deal with a major Mexican food chain for subliminal advertising.
Either way it worked.
Next up, the obscure Butt-Numb-a-Thon favorite, "Destination Mars!"