Despicable Me & Minions

[droosan]

Looks like Despicable Me Too is already in the works, along with The Lorax, The Addams Family, Where's Waldo, and a couple of (gasp!) original concepts .. plus: Minion short subjects!

[Macaluso]

Very happy about The Lorax. If it's as good as Horton, of course.

Dr. Suess movies should never go back to live action.

[EricJ]

Nor should they go back to the lame "Seuss characters as metaphor for our own neurotic yuppie society" metaphor, but given Horton, looks like they'll go that way anyway.

[Ben]

I'm very happy that Universal - a company not known for handling animation very well in its many decades - is finally starting to get it. Coraline and 9 were the first seeds of this new approach, and it's pretty neat that they're now buying into a proven studio with vision and a hit movie under their belt.

I just hope that with the statement, "llumination will grow from one picture per year to two or three within the next several years", the company will not bow to Universal pressure and provide quantity instead of quality, which is where Uni have always gone wrong in the past.

[EricJ]

Incidentally, IHOP is currently having a food promotion for Despicable Me. Tried it out the other day, it's pretty good! What I got from the "Minion Menu" was berry pancakes, cinnamon rolls (with cream cheese icing!) and for a drink, Minionade. (Strawberry lemonade, yum!)

Not to mention the exclusive Best Buy phone-app that interactively lets you translate "secret" Minion messages during the end credits. (Apparently, it's something about Ovaltine... )

Which brings up the question: Have we seen any of the main central characters in the current ads at...ALL??

[estefan]

I'm very happy that Universal - a company not known for handling animation very well in its many decades - is finally starting to get it.

I don't know. The Land Before Time and both American Tails were pretty solid. Plus, Universal is the same studio who helped to bring Woody Woodpecker and other Walter Lantz creations into the world.

That said, looking over their history, I'm surprised at the gap between Balto and Curious George without any animated features under their belt (not counting those direct-to-video Land Before Time sequels).

[Ben]

I knew someone would bring up the Bluth films...but they were sold as Spielberg productions. And I did think of Woody, but again he was never quite an A-list cartoon character and only enjoyed a few years of popularity (his stable mates never achieving anywhere near Woody's success).

As for their other animated films, again the likes of Balto were Amblimation productions, which Universal faltered in marketing, and Curious George was an established brand, again made by another production company (Imagine).

So, when it comes to Universal proper, their animation experience relies on a secondary character from the classic days and a handful of video sequels. The recent attempts with Despereaux shows they don't really have an idea of what works in the medium, unless they have stronger partners, which they seem to have started to again.

[Whippet Angel]

Caught this today. Like Droo said, it was a solid and enjoyable little film. Not to mention incredibly cute.

[droosan]

I noticed this morning that the 'crane/claw' game in my local Denny's restaurant was stocked with Despicable Me plush toys .. represented were Minions (natch), all three girls, and the SO FLUFFY Unicorn.

[Whippet Angel]

Seriously??? I want a SO FLUFFY unicorn too!!!

Oh, and speaking of the Lorax, did anyone notice

that Margo was wearing a Lorax t-sirt?

[Dacey]

Finally caught this the other day. The 3-D on this one was actually pretty cool.

I definately enjoyed the film more than I thought I might, at least before reading the strong reviews for it a few weeks ago. I found the whole "plot to steal the moon" thing pretty funny, but it was some of the smaller gags--such as Gru's incredibly nasty way of saying good night to the girls and the diabolical way he said "lightbulp" whenever he had a particuarly evil idea--that really made me laugh. And, oh, yeah, the minions were as cute as everyone's been saying they are.

I was also extremely impressed with Steve Carrell's vocal performance as Gru. I've always been a fan of his, but the hilarious accent that he gave the character really was something special. I honestly can't think of any other actor in the role. Of course, the vocal performance wouldn't have been as effective as it was if the character animation hadn't been up to match. Fortunately, it was.

Also, Agnes is probably the cutest little girl to appear in an animated movie since Boo. "It's so fluffy I'm going to die!" Priceless.

[Ben]

Haven't seen this yet, but it struck me that the plot to steal the moon was like Yzma's scheme in the original Emperor's New Groove back when it was Kingdom Of The Sun, hence the title "Snuff Out The Light" for her unused villain song. Of course, she was after the sun, but I guess she would have gone for the moon too!

The minons seem too close to Toy Story's green aliens, but I expect they'll be good comedy value. This does look like big fun...I just caught Universal's first foray into CG, The Tale Of Despereaux and found myself despereaux to stay awake! What a muddled snoozefest, combined with boring, bit-mapped animation! The character animation was good in places, but it looked like something from the 90s, not good when a lot of stuff from the 90s was better than that! So glad I didn't pick up the disc out of curiosity now!

But Despicable Me, I'm looking forward to!

[Dacey]

They had no idea what they wanted to do with that movie. Way too many subplots in a way too short ammount of time. I did like the animation, though.

Also, was it my imagination, or did Sigourney Weaver sound kinda...well, bored as the film's narrator?

[Darkblade]

I saw it with my girlfriend. We both thought it was a riot, oh and the minions reminded me of those Raving Rabbids from Rayman.

[Macaluso]

, The Tale Of Despereaux and found myself despereaux to stay awake! What a muddled snoozefest

Ugh this just... Man, that doesn't even work Ben try again