A more lovable animated villain than Gru would be hard to find. He’s the star of Despicable Me, the story of a man who starts out taking great pleasure in doing bad things and ends up being charmed by three adorable orphan girls. It’s not surprising when interactions with these little darlings bring about a change of heart for Gru, who’s been obsessed for so long about being the most important villain ever.   

Voiced in a Bela Lugosi-type accent by Steve Carell, Gru devises a master plan that involves stealing the moon by shrinking it. His helpers include a nefarious side-kick (voiced by Russell Brand) plus a horde of wonderfully strange-looking tiny creatures called minions. Unfortunately, Gru’s rival just happens to be Vector (voiced by Jason Segel), a nerdy young scientist with plenty of financial support and a valuable shrinking machine. Plus, when Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier), and Agnes (voiced by Elsie Fisher) enter Gru’s life, distractions abound -- including a dance recital on the same date as the planned moon heist. Which event will Gru choose?

Although Gru tries hard to resist the orphans, the girls won’t give up on him. They ask for bedtime stories, want goodnight kisses and seem to enjoy being around him. It’s a treat to watch Gru being drawn slowly into their web of love, thanks to a sensitive screenplay by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (the writers who adapted Horton Hears a Who! for the screen) from a clever story by Sergio Pablos. The tykes have the same effect on Gru as the ghosts do on Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. And, also similarly, through flashbacks, we find out something about Gru’s unhappy childhood, including his mother’s (voiced by Julie Andrews) lack of appropriate child-rearing techniques, which helps us understand his adult bad behavior. 

However, my favorite scenes in Despicable Me involve the minions. They speak in a funny language all their own, and youngsters at the screening I attended laughed whenever any of these fascinating characters came on camera. I chuckled also, especially at the childish way the minions relate to each other and their enthusiastic reactions to whatever Gru wanted them to do. 

Animation in Despicable Me focuses on weird shapes such as the bizarre triangular look of a banker (voiced by Will Arnett) and Gru’s long nose and skinny legs. Obviously, the youngest viewers couldn’t help being entranced by those unique images as well as the rich yellow and blue minion colors, and I feel the same way. One lady in the audience took photos of the minion outtakes as the end credits rolled. I’ll bet she and her children had a great time looking at them when they got home.  

Although not as profound and ground-breaking as Toy Story 3, Despicable Me deserves recognition as another excellent animated movie for the entire family. It’s full of heart as well as humor.                 

(Released by Universal Studios and rated “PG” for rude humor and mild action.)

For more information about Despicable Me, go to the Internet Movie Data Base or Rotten Tomatoes website.