This was a delightful movie with a great message about what matters most in life. I was genuinely touched by it. The main character Gru (Steve Carell) is an ornery, self-serving man. His right hand man is an old guy with wrinkled skin and gray thinning hair named Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand). He serves as a steady advisor for Gru to rely on in the midst of all the chaotic people (and creatures) around him.
As we learn later on in the movie, Gru wants most to please his mother (Julie Andrews) who has been a force of negativity and criticism since he was a child. He does this by making plans to capture the moon.
With all his little one and two-eyed yellow assembly line minions, he begins his work. He goes to the top banker Mr. Perkins (Will Arnett) to get a loan to fund the operation. When Mr. Perkins refuses, it’s up to Gru and his supporting cast to make the dream of stealing the moon a reality. Gru’s nemesis is a nerdy, orange sweats-wearing, intellectual genius named Vector (Jason Segel) . To help with his plan, Gru adopts three little girls Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) from an orphanage run by Miss Hattie (Kristen Wiig). Despite his determination to be despicable, his interaction with the three girls begins to soften him. Their developing friendship is the heart of the movie.
Profanity: There are jokes about bodily functions with words such as f**t and p**p. If my memory serves me right, there is no more that 2 instances of the Lord’s name taken in vain. There is also a lot of name-calling and put-downs, especially from Gru’s mother.
Violence: Exploding objects (usually accompanied by huge balls of fire), Destruction by Gru’s monstrous land vehicle, air travel vehicles shooting missiles and so on, some minions getting hurt, people being frozen in ice by a gun designed for such purposes, etc. It is my opinion that the heaviness of the violence for a “kid’s” movie is pretty high.
Immorality/Sex: None
I recommend this movie for children 10 years and up. If you are concerned about the impact of violence on children seeing it in various forms of media, especially those who developmentally have not yet been able to distinguish between reality and fantasy, I would avoid this movie for now.
Moral of the Story: Don’t judge others too quickly. When you find out a little more about their background, you’ll wish you hadn’t.
