”No, it is not cool. Plus, I really much knew it was him all along. So if anyone’s cool it’s me.” -Gru
Cool, maybe not. Despicable and felonious, definitely. Fun to watch, clearly. So yeah, okay, maybe he is cool. Whether you think he is cool or not, he is definitely profitable. Though the fourth installment has performed below the norm for the wildly successful franchise, it’s still done a cool $577 million at the World Wide Box office and is currently the third biggest film of the year. And with that said, I want to take the time to celebrate the character that has made being despicable so enjoyable!
Brief Biography
Felonious Gru Sr., or simply Gru, is the main protagonist of the Despicable Me franchise. The son of Marlena Gru and the late Robert Gru, grandson of the late Madeleine Gru and the late Henry Gru, this former supervillain is the husband of AVL agent Lucy Wilde. Gru has three adopted daughters Margo, Edith, and Agnes, and a son, Felonious Gru Jr. Gru is also the leader of the Minions, friends with Dr. Nefario and is also the twin brother of Dru Gru.
Childhood
Gru was born on May 25, 1964, alongside with Dru to Marlena and Robert Gru (aka, The Bald Terror). Although his exact hometown is unknown, in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres on her TV show, Gru claimed he was from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Despite being born with his twin brother, Dru, they were separated from birth and he stayed with his mother Marlena Gru.
As a child in 1969, he always dreamed of going to the moon after seeing Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 Moon landing. He even once made a “prototype” rocket out of macaroni, and soon afterwards, an actual working prototype rocket. Though neglected by his mother for most of his childhood and receiving very little contact from his father, Gru was a child of achievements.
Gru was also constantly bullied by other students and one of these events made him afraid to ever ask a girl for a date, leaving him deeply traumatized. This trauma is one of the driving forces behind his evil actions.
At some point in 1968, Gru and his mother visited Villain-Con (of course, that is a real event) and met Dr. Joseph Albert Nefario. He was immediately attracted to the famed scientist’s contraptions, as well as a group of yellow pillow-shaped creatures called the Minions, whom he would meet shortly afterwards. The Minions and Nefario would eventually become the only friends of our villain.
You may be thinking to yourself, with a start like that our Gru was destined to have his life played out in the movies with a franchise based on his exceptional true story. You would be correct. What follows is my review and unique rating system for each of those films.
Despicable Me
Gru (portrayed by Steve Carell) is a master-villain out to steal the moon. This film proves that not every supervillain can be, well, super at their job. Of course, they aspire to greatness, but learn they aren’t cut out for the ignoble profession. Maybe, just maybe, it’s because they’re not as bad as they would like to think. That’s the gist of Universal Studios, Despicable Me.
Gru, who is a cross between Uncle Fester and Dr. Evil, possesses qualities of the latter’s predecessor, Bond baddie Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Living in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, he has the perfect cover for his vast underground lair where his Minions and his mad scientist colleague, Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), builds his gizmos and weaponry.
Having recently fallen on hard times, Gru sets out to pull off his biggest heist yet: stealing the moon! But he’s competing with a younger upstart, the nerdy Vector (Jason Segel), and finds his cold heart slowly but surely melting when the adorable orphans, Margo, Edith and Agnes, enter his life. Finding himself suddenly responsible for something other than his own evil schemes, will Gru go from bad to dad?
Despicable Me is animated family entertainment at its finest. It is a familiar, but fun little film that owes more than a passing similarity to How The Grinch Stole Christmas, where a dastardly character out to steal something big has a change of heart after encountering an adorable little girl, or in this case three of them. Although it is a formulaic little tale, audiences will be won over by the heart, emotion and humor in this wonderful film.
The totality of the movie works because of the characters; from those precious little tykes, to the cute and funny Minions. Though, both Gru and Vector owe credit to other film characters, The Grinch and Syndrome (The Incredibles), respectively, Carell is simply excellent as Gru, the supervillain who has a change of heart. So offering up laughs and sweet moments to boot, Despicable Me warrants a strong recommendation.
The Verdict: A first rank CGI cartoon that is fun with teary bits for kids and is fresh and smart for adults. A Cute Film Addictive Rating 8.3/10
Despicable Me 2
It’s all very well to renounce the villainy business and recast yourself as a devoted father of three girls, but what next? This is the dilemma facing Gru as we rejoin him here, adjusting to a world of children’s parties and soccer moms all the while trying to retool his once evil empire towards the production of jams and jellies. He’s clearly relieved when he’s called back into action by Steve Coogan’s Silas Ramsbottom and something called the Anti-Villains League to investigate the theft of an entire lab, and along with it’s monster-creating serum.
Gru also has to cope, though poorly, as one daughter wishes he’d find her mother, while another takes her first steps into the dating world. There are some segments of the film that will leave you baffled, like when Gru is sent undercover in a mall to try and find out which shop owner has the stolen goods. But overall, this movie, despite a few flaws, is overwhelmingly entertaining. And the film has its best moments when the tragically insecure Gru finally takes a risk with Kristen Wiig’s winsome Agent Wilde, a highly competent and enthusiastic member of the AVL.
And, of course, there are the Minions, the yellow happy pills who can be counted on to reduce children of all ages to puddles of giggles. Quite possibly the biggest laughs of the movie, outside of Carell’s outrageous accent, come from the Minions’ looney-tunes and strangely benign mutual violence. Their role was clearly beefed up in preparation for their own spinoff movie that was on the way. Again, altogether, Despicable Me 2 delivers the goods.
The Verdict: Despite some flaws particularly in the middle of the film, Gru has the charm and everyone will adore the Minions. A Cute Film Addictive Rating 8.0/10
Minions
By the time we got to the Minions spinoff movie in 2015, they were a million dollar business and more money equals Mo’ Minions’ with Mo’ Problems. As supporting characters in the first Despicable Me film, the yellow sidekicks somewhat stole the show, which bought them a role expansion in the hugely successful sequel. And with Minion popularity continuing to grow, they were given their own standalone movie; a spinoff that is both a prequel and an origin story.
The movie takes us back to the dawn of time, when the Minions developed from tiny single-celled organisms into diminutive, banana-loving, nonsense-sprouting henchmen with one goal; to serve the most despicable master they can find.
Via a Geoffrey Rush voiceover and more hilarious visual gags than you can imagine, we witness them evolve through the ages, relocating and serving villains during the Jurassic era, the Stone Age, in Ancient Egypt and through the Dark Ages. Turns out, finding a boss is easy, it’s keeping said boss that’s hard, so-much-so that when a series of baddies die in unfortunate circumstances, they will retreat to Antarctica to experiment with a master less existence.
Without a scoundrel to serve, the Minions become aimless and depressed, inspiring one of their number, Kevin to come up with a plan. He’ll set sail for lands anew with fellow Minions Stuart and Bob in search of the biggest, baddest villain on the planet. That’s the set-up for the movie.
From there the bulk of the movie takes place in New York, Florida and London in 1968 for reasons you will come to grasp later. Having navigated their way around the Big Apple better than most of us, the inane triumvirate hook up with a likable family of bank robbers, and head to VillainCon in Orlando in search of the world’s first female supervillain, Scarlet Overkill.
Voiced by Sandra Bullock, Overkill is a joy, with personality to boot as her dastardly schemes become the focus of this part of the film. Meanwhile, Jon Hamm does quality work as her nefarious husband, Herb.
The action then shifts to swinging ‘60s London where the Minions steal the Crown Jewels, find the fabled Sword in the Stone, and get into a jam with some tea-swigging Bobbies and the Queen herself.
These scrapes result in imaginative set pieces playing out to a toe tapping Brit-Rock soundtrack, the spectacle becoming even larger as the finale nears and you watch the Minions doing their thing. It’s here that the jokes come thick and fast, with enough slapstick and humor to satisfy young ones of all ages; adults will of course get the more mature jokes at the expense of The Beatles, Richard Nixon, and the moon landings.
In the end, Scarlet Overkill and husband, Herb, return to Buckingham Palace, retrieve the crown from Queen Elizabeth II and are chased by the Minions when the two villains are suddenly frozen by a young Gru, with his freeze ray. Taking the crown himself and making off with it proudly, he activates his Flying Scooter while putting the crown on Kyle’s head. The Minions eagerly follow the young Gru and proclaim him boss, and set us up for more despicable fun yet to come.
Lacking strong direction in the middle is the movie’s only weakness. The heart that made the Despicable Me franchise resonate with audiences to begin with shines through even the few flaws.
The Verdict: Minions start strong, lags a little in the middle, but regains steam to race toward a hilarious conclusion. A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.1/10
The Secret Life of Pets
Though this movie does not move the story of Gru along, it is notable that Gru and Kyle can be briefly seen in the dog park in Washington Square Park. If you have not caught this cameo before, give it another watch. Even if you have, another viewing just might be fun.
A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.2/10
Despicable Me 3
Following along, you know that former supervillain Felonious Gru has given up his first career, crime, and apparently his second career as well, selling jellies and jams. When we start the third installment, he’s a fully fledged agent for the Anti-Villain League. But that all changes within a matter of minutes. Despite foiling a plot to steal the world’s most expensive diamond, he’s fired by his new boss for letting the culprit, ‘80s obsessive Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker) get away. He will not get much time to dwell on that, as the next day he is contacted by his secret twin, Dru (also Carell), and soon he is in the European country of Freedonia with his wife Lucy, three adopted daughters and his two remaining Minions after the rest ditched him to find new employment with someone more villainous.
Of the two major new characters, Bratt is easily the most successful. A former child star, he’s stuck in his glory days (Bruce Springsteen, anyone), the 80s. He typically wears shoulder pads, challenges adversaries to dance fights and his best gun is a reconfigured keytar. Introduction, finds him carrying out a heist to the beat of Michael Jackson’s Bad, clearly designed to cater to both demographics in the audience. He’s both a zany villain for the kids and a buzz of nostalgia for us Minion crazed adults.
In the end, this film is messier than the previous Despicable Me movies, with subplots that don’t seem to payoff, or fail to generate much interest. But even though the energy sags at points, it’s never far from a Dru-led action sequence or the Minions staging an elaborate prison escape to bring it back up.
The Verdict: This third Despicable Me movie is also the third best in regards to quality. But it possesses enough energy and charm to keep the franchise churning out more.
A Cute Film Addictive Rating 6.9/10
Minions: The Rise of Gru
With this film, we now have five installments into what could be called the Cinematic Gruniverse (I’m not sure if I’m the first one to come up with that or not). If you’ve never heard that before, we’ll say I was the first. Either way, we’ll see if it sticks. At any rate, I’m sure you can see a simple formula has been established by these films involving Gru and the Minions. A powerful weapon or contraption will be stolen. At least one child or Minion will go missing. There will be several montages. Eventually, there will be a battle with something very big. The Minions will save the day, albeit by accident. Predictability is usually a bad thing, but let’s be honest with ourselves, we’re not going to any of these movies expecting innovation. The simple formula of the Gruniverse (used it again) has repeatedly led to a reliable, enjoyable time at the multiplex. And the formula does not disappoint this time either.
Honestly, calling this the second Minions film is somewhat deceptive, but the little yellow ones now have just as strong of a brand recognition as Despicable Me. Essentially, this is the second Despicable Me prequel, centered on Gru, with a heavier than usual sprinkling of Minions. In 1976 San Francisco, Gru is an awkward and friendless pre-teen who dreams of being a supervillain. He applies to join the world’s premier supervillain team, the Vicious 6, led by Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), but is humiliated in his interview. In an effort to show his heroes what they’re missing, he steals the mysterious Zodiac Stone, the Vicious 6’s most treasured loot. Gru and his loyal Minions then find themselves on the run from the most dangerous people in the world, and seeking help from someone with his own grudge against the Vicious 6; their betrayed former leader, Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin).
Structurally, the film feels a little busy, splitting up its characters so that we have Gru and Knuckles bonding, three Minions learning Kung fu with an acupuncturist (Michelle Yeoh) for spurious reasons, another Minion going cross country on a treasure hunt, and the Vicious 6 plotting their revenge. Each subplot is thankfully simple enough that it never gets confusingly tangled and all the strands eventually collide in a final act that arrives with scant explanation and makes little sense, but its gorgeously animated and high on spectacle.
Clearly, plot has never been the strong suit of these movies, we go because they are excellent at the silly incidental jokes. Speaking of, there are some terrific gags here, specifically in the names of the members of the Vicious 6: an evil Viking is known as Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren); Nun Chuck (Lucy Lawless) is a spooky nun who splits her crucifix into weapons; and Jean-Claude Van Damme voices a lobster-limbed baddie named Jean Clawed. I also loved how the movie has lots of fun with the film’s 1970’s setting, from towering hairdos to the disco soundtrack to evil lairs and Roger Moore-era Bond aesthetic vehicles.
If you go into this film expecting straight forward enjoyment, it delivers exactly what you are looking for out of the Gruniverse (last time I use it… maybe, no promises).
The Verdict: Not unlike the previous films, this installment will win you over with its nutty joy and enthusiasm. A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.2/10
Despicable Me 4
This latest entry into Illumination Studios Despicable Me franchise delivers all the hallmarks of the predecessors; a steady stream of danceable pop music, an eye-popping palette, and the colorful characters with big round eyes and distinct angular shapes.
There is a ton going on in the latest adventure for reformed supervillain Gru. There are near a half dozen plots and none seem to work together seamlessly. One featuring young, wannabe villain Poppy (voiced by Joey King) does yield a few amusing visual gags, but goes nowhere. While, this may be the most disconnected entry in the franchise yet, there is still lots to like. For example, the thread hinting at Gru experiencing insecurity about his new baby disliking him. It just would have more interesting to see that developed a little further.
The new characters are fine, but could have, again, been more impactful. Will Ferrell is interesting as big bad Maxime le Mai, who has an unhealthy obsession with cockroaches and a lifelong hatred for Gru after a mishap at their high school talent show. What is a little more than frustrating is how little time we get to spend with the characters we’ve come to love, including a surprisingly minimal amount of Minions.
Speaking of Minions, the newbies are more promising, as a group of our favorite yellow creatures are morphed into superheroes and dubbed the Mega Minions. They are riffs on familiar superheroes like The Thing and Elastigirl, with at least one gag recalling a moment in Incredibles 2, but here they are presented with a clever twist that allows for a fair amount of laughs.
Again, though there is an overall lack of cohesion, there is ample fun to be had here. Even if this is the weakest effort in the Despicable Me franchise, it still manages plenty of laughs.
The Verdict: Though the overall plot stalls some due to the amount of material, Gru is still lovable and you will still find yourself engaged.
A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.0/10
Still haven’t got enough of Gru and the Minions, maybe these clips will appease you.
Home Makeover
Robot Puppy
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
I hope you enjoyed this post and Gru’s unique dancing. Until next time, have fun at the movies!
