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The Goodfeathers are confirmed to appear. Right now we know Squit has a speaking role.

I only have one new pic but it's a really good one!

www.deviantart.com/trey-vore/art/30-years-of-Tiny-Toon-Adventures-855132770

Despicable Me (2010)

Distributor: Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment
Director: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud
Cast: Steve Carell (Felonius Gru), Jason Segel (Vector), Russell Brand (Dr. Nefario), Marinda Cosgrove (Margo), Dana Gaier (Edith), Elsie Fisher (Agnes), Will Arnett (Mr. Perkins), Kirsten Wiig (Ms. Hattie), Pierre Coffin (Minions Kevin, Tim, Bob, Mark, Phil, Stuart), Chris Renaud (Minion Dave), Jemaine Clement (Minion Jerry)
Runtime: 95 min.
MPAA Rating: PG (mild action and rude humor)

When the Great Pyramid of Giza goes missing, supervillain Felonius Gru knows he has to do something extreme to prove his salt as a supervillain, and together with Dr. Nefario and his army of pill-shaped Minions, his plot is to shrink and steal the moon. He needs to obtain a shrink ray to do just that, but when his up-and-coming rival Vector steals it first, he now needs to steal it from him. He decides to use three orphan girls as pawns for his upcoming heist to get his loan from the bank, but soon he has another challenge: the three little girls start to grow on him. So, with this supervillain growing a heart and the moon placing itself in optimal position what choice will Gru have to make, following his plot or throw it away to be a good father?

Back in 2010, despite having studied animation in school somehow I missed this movie in theatres, likely because I wasn’t sure what to think of it, plus this was during a time when Pixar was lightyears ahead of everyone else in the field; after all everyone was gushing over how utterly mind-blowing Toy Story 3 was and even went on to be nominated for Best Picture (and my on-call job likely played a role as well). However, this French-animated movie that put Illumination Entertainment on the map and won the world over, succeeded in its job start a multi-billion dollar franchise. I did go and ask about it when I was at my local Best Buy as they had it playing on their TV screens and the employees said it’s hilarious.

There is another reason I felt I should go and give this movie a review: in the year 2020, Universal was set to distribute Minions: Rise of Gru, a movie that was to mark the 10th anniversary of the original film. However, because of the Coronavirus pandemic, those plans were put on the kibosh. We will be getting the movie next year, though. Recently though, I got to see the original movie on the big screen thanks to Tinseltown, so with that in mind, my thoughts are…?

First, I will start by saying the movie feels very much like a cartoon. Sure it’s animated so you would ask why wouldn’t it feel like a cartoon, but it does carry a lot of Looney Tunes-style slapstick so it doesn’t feel like it’s supposed to be real. If the characters are pointing guns and bombs at each other there is enough cartoonishness to let you it’s meant to be a joke and not something cringeworthy. Despite that, the movie has a genuine heart to it so you know it can emotionally resonate with you as a viewer.

Maybe the story isn’t the strongest, but what truly does drive the movie is the characters. As the protagonist of the story, Gru is supposed to be a career supervillain who is continually vying for success but must make a choice once the initial pawns in his scheme, the three orphan girls Margo, Edith and Agnes, start to find their way into his heart. They have individual oddities that make them endearing, like how Margo feels she must be the responsible one, Edith is a moody tomboy and Agnes is the cute one with a fixation on unicorns. The kids the movie appeals to will probably find them more relatable than the star (or another set of characters I am getting to), with the heart coming from them and Gru having a sense of humor without a lot of over-sentimentality. I will say though, the least compelling character is the movie’s villain—to a villain, natch—Vector. Being an upstarting antagonist he is overly cartoonish and doesn’t do a whole lot at least until the climax to make him…dare I say it?... despicable. He just seems like he’s supposed to be a wealthy brat who’s so sure of his success that he doesn’t take his enemies seriously. Sure the movie does need a source of conflict but he’s not all that menacing. Almost like how I remember playing my copy of Pokemon Blue back in the day and your rival would be nothing more than an immature brat, but later rivals would prove to be more morally questionable.

On the other hand, we have the Minions. These goofy, babble-talking little guys who would see a wide army of imitators were clearly the movie’s comedy relief in an already cartoonish world, but they clearly steal each and every scene they are in. They sound almost like they are speaking in broken French which is already plenty funny. Part of what makes them so appealing is they act like worker bees and you probably can find something relatable to them, in addition to how little boys like to act. Then there is the factor on how animation is supposed to work: if you can turn off the dialogue and still understand what’s going on, then you are truly watching something animated. If you must have the dialogue to make sense of it, then it’s not animation, it’s illustrated radio. It’s no wonder they would go on to become the mascots of Illumination Entertainment.

Another point I will raise is 10 years later, how does it fare? I would say it holds up. Maybe the animation quality seems a little more yesteryear compared to some other films, but that’s only a small complaint; the heart and humor are still there and the characters still mean what they used to. The only things that really suggest the time of which it was made are one sequence where Vector is playing video games on what looks very much like a Wii (and how do the French say yes? Oui, am I right?) and the fact that every time Margo is on screen there is a quiet advertisement for the then-upcoming adaptation of The Lorax, a movie they released in 2012 (what is that on her shirt?)

In the end, I will say Despicable Me is still a fun time and worth your attention. The movie still is witty and charming with lots of goofball humor so it’s still a good movie. I do feel as though it would be outdone in a future movie (Despicable Me 2 is still my favorite) but I still very much recommend this movie.



Despicable Me (2010)
TreyVore rates it: B+

We got the live-action Mulan... finally.

Of course, it's not without its share of controversy.

www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mulan-thai-taiwanese-activists-join-221617551.html

Ooh babclayman!

You did an amazing job man. I know for a fact you can't hurry art but you did something really cool there.

Thanks again my man!

d**n, those are some big ones!

That should barely be animation.

I like this video, it's more of a cute video but did you ever wonder what Gumball and UniKitty would be like if they were real kitties? We also have a real life Darwin and Puppycorn for good measure: