The Movie
Steve Carell stars as the heavily accented, often grumpy voice of Gru, the title character of Despicable Me. Gru is the product of bad parenting (even with Julie Andrews as his mom, go figure) and so he has embraced a life of über-villainy, but with competition among his ilk heating up, he decides to go for broke and commit the biggest crime in history: He's going to steal The Moon!
Obstacles befall him, and now the key to his success lies with three orphan girls selling cookies door-to-door. He adopts them with little regard for the consequences, but despite his best efforts the trio manages to thaw his icy heart. It sounds a little corny, and it is, but it also exciting and consistently funny, a terrific family film that genuinely delivers the goods.
Also steal a look at Beth McCabe's review of Despicable Me.
The Picture
Despicable Me is Universal Studios' first Blu-ray 3D title available at American retail, and it is a fine edition of a fine movie. The only difference between this and the 2D edition so ably reviewed by Greg Robinson is the addition of a fourth disc, with the movie accessible in 2D and 3D versions (which bumps up the list price by $10, understandably).
The smart use of multiple layers of focus already plays well in 2D, but with the depth afforded by 3D gear it now imparts a stunning level of realism. The crisp quality of the computer-generated imagery plays beautifully with the illusion, as some ambitious shots have clearly been conceived and produced specifically to exploit the format, Witness Gru's pointy spaceship grinding to a crash-landed halt right in front of us! The depth also enhances the sense of scale, the deliberately over-the-top bigness of this movie.
Kudos too to the filmmakers and the studio for applying the technology to the menus, the Universal logo, and a portion of the end credits.
The Sound
Directionality within the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 channel soundfield is outstanding, a tremendous boon the dynamic physical comedy on display here, and a perfect complement to the three-dimensional visuals. Bass too is exceptionally strong. Turned up loud, this is an unexcelled 3D cartoon experience.
The Extras
The Blu-ray 3D platter is pared down a bit versus the 2D disc. In 3D, the bonuses are simply an audio commentary by the two directors, and a D-BOX Motion Code which is probably pretty neat for Despicable Me. Both versions of the Blu-ray are BD-Live enabled, while the 2D brings featurettes, Bonus View, three new cartoons featuring The Minions--the breakout stars of the film--and more.
Disc Three is a DVD of the movie with select bonus features. Disc Four carries a Digital Copy for iTunes and Windows Media.
Final Thoughts
3D haters waiting for a strong proof-of-concept disc need look no further than Despicable Me, an entertaining, no-compromise Blu-ray package that only improves with that extra dimension.
Product Details
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