Despicable Me is a 2010 American computer-animated 3D comedy film
from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment that was released on
July 9, 2010 in the United States. The first Illumination Entertainment
production, it was directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, based on an
original story by Sergio Pablos.
The film stars the voice of Steve Carell as Gru, a super-villain
who adopts three girls (the voices of Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Elsie
Fisher) from an orphanage; and the voice of Jason Segel as Vector, a rival of
Gru who steals the Great Pyramid of Giza. When Gru learns of Vector's heist, he
plans an even greater heist to shrink and steal the Earth's moon.
The film was entirely animated by the French animation studio Mac
Guff, which was later acquired by Illumination Entertainment.[2]
The film earned positive reviews from critics, and grossed over
$543 million worldwide, against a budget of $69 million.[1] A sequel,
Despicable Me 2, is set to be released on July 3, 2013, followed by a spin-off,
featuring Gru's Minions as the main characters, on December 19, 2014.
Cast
- Steve Carell as Gru
- Jason Segel as Victor "Vector" Perkins
- Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario
- Julie Andrews as Gru's mother
- Will Arnett as Mr. Perkins
- Kristen Wiig as Miss Hattie
- Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, the oldest of the three girls
- Dana Gaier as Edith, the middle girl of the group
- Elsie Fisher as Agnes, the youngest girl
- Pierre Coffin as Tim, Bob, Mark, Phil, and Stuart, five of Gru's
minions
- Chris Renaud as Dave, one of Gru's minions
- Jemaine Clement as Jerry, one of Gru's minions
- Jack McBrayer as tourist Father and carnival Barker.
- Ken Jeong as talk show host.
- Danny McBride as Fred McDade, Gru's next door neighbor.
- Mindy Kaling as tourist mother.
- Rob Huebel as anchorman and newscaster.
Music
Main article: Despicable Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Despicable Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack
to the film of the same name, and it was released on July 6, 2010. It features
new songs from the film written, performed, and/or produced by composed by
Pharrell Williams, and performances by Destinee & Paris, The Sylvers, Robin
Thicke, The Bee Gees and David Bisbal.[citation needed]
Release
Marketing
NBC (which is owned by Universal) had an extensive marketing
campaign leading up to the film's release. Sneak peeks were shown in episodes
of The Biggest Loser. Despicable Me was also featured on Last Comic Standing
when Gru comes in to audition. IHOP restaurants promoted the film by
introducing three new menu items, a kids' breakfast meal, and a drink all
having the word "minion" in them.[citation needed]
Airheads candy released packages of the characters and came with a
code for the Despicable Me video game.[citation needed]
Best Buy released a free smartphone application called "Movie
Mode" that translates what the Minions are saying during the end credits for
the 3-D Theatrical release. Special content can be unlocked from the
application after seeing the film
Books
In May 2010, three books related to the movie were published, as
well as the children's puppet book featured in the film. The first, My Dad the
Super Villain (ISBN 0316083828), was rated as a preschool book. The second,
Despicable Me: The Junior Novel (ISBN 0316083801), was rated as being a Junior
Reader for ages 8 to 12. The third, Despicable Me: The World's Greatest Villain
(ISBN 0316083771), was rated for ages 3–6 years. The puppet book Sleepy Kittens
(ISBN 031608381X) was written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio and illustrated by
Paul.
Video Game
A video game titled Despicable Me: The Game was released for the
PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii. A Nintendo DS version was released
under the name Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. Namco also released a version for
the iPhone and iPad platform entitled Despicable Me: Minion Mania, developed by
Anino Games.
Home Video
Despicable Me was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on
December 14, 2010.[6] The release included three new short films, titled Home
Makeover, Orientation Day and Banana. Also, the website MinionMadness was
launched to promote the home media release. Best Buy Movie Mode was updated for
the home media release. Now the minions are translated during the whole movie.
Reception
Critical Response
The film has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Review
aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 81% of critics have given the film a
positive review based on 188 reviews, with an average score of 6.8/10. The
critical consensus is: "Borrowing heavily (and intelligently) from Pixar
and Looney Tunes, Despicable Me is a surprisingly thoughtful, family-friendly
treat with a few surprises of its own."[7] Metacritic, another review
aggregation website, assigned the film a score of 72%, based on 34 reviews from
mainstream critics.[8]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, awarding it
three stars out of a possible four.[9] Other positive reviews came from Michael
Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.[10][11]
In contrast, A. O. Scott of The New York Times disliked the film,
stating "while there's nothing worth despising, there's not much to
remember either."[12] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote:
There's nothing in this to engage an audience. Obviously, no one
cares if this guy gets to remain as the world's top bad guy. Nor is this
situation inherently amusing in a character way or even interesting in a
satirical or sardonic way. There is simply nothing here, except a pretext for
lots of labored, slapstick spy-versus-spy type shenanigans between the two
"villains." Twenty minutes into Despicable Me, nothing has happened.
Box-office performance
Released on July 9, 2010, in the United States, Despicable Me
opened at the number one spot at the box office and pulled in $56.3 million,
making it the third biggest opening grossing for an animated film in 2010
behind Toy Story 3 and Shrek Forever After.[14] In its second weekend, the film
dipped to 42% to second place behind Inception with $32.8 million earned. The
film then had another drop of 27% in its third weekend and finished in third
place with $23.8 million. On August 5, 2010, the film crossed the $200 million
mark, becoming the first Universal film to reach the milestone since 2007's The
Bourne Ultimatum.[15]
On the weekend lasting from September 3–5, 2010, it surpassed Shrek
Forever After to become the second highest-grossing animated film of 2010 in
the United States and Canada, behind Toy Story 3. It is also the highest-grossing
non-DreamWorks/non-Disney·Pixar animated film of all time in these territories.
The film has made $251,513,985 in the United States and Canada as well as an
estimated $291,600,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $543,010,705, against
its $69 million budget.[1] This film is also Universal's sixth highest-grossing
film (unadjusted for inflation)[16] and the tenth-highest-grossing animated
feature of all-time in North America.[17] In worldwide earnings, it is the
sixth biggest film of Universal Studios,[18] the fourth highest-grossing
animated film of 2010 trailing Toy Story 3, Shrek Forever After, and Tangled,
the 20th highest-grossing animated film of all time and the 9th
highest-grossing film of 2010.[
Hello, Schoolgirl (Hangul: 순정만화; RR: Sunjeong Manhwa; literally "pure/romantic comic," the Korean version of shōjo manga) is a 2008 South Korean film. Adapted from Love Story a popular webcomic by Kang Full, it is the second film directed by Ryoo Jang-ha. It stars Yoo Ji-tae, Lee Yeon-hee, Chae Jung-an, and Kang-in.
