Movie Review: Tangled

"Tangled" / Rated PG / Disney / 92 min. / Dir. by Nathan Greno and Bryon Howard

It is my happy duty to report that Disney is back. Yes, I'm aware that the conglomerate super-entity known as The Walt Disney Company never left. However, there has been an oddness about their animated output for roughly the last decade. An oddness that has made even their best films seem strangely "un-Disney". They've been trying to play catch up with the other big boys. "Chicken Little" was clearly an attempt as a DreamWorks style action-comedy. "Meet the Robinsons" tried to add a little Pixar-style sentimentality. However, none of it came naturally. Most of these films smacked of desperation mixed with committee thinking.

Last year, when I heard that the film "Rapunzel" was being renamed "Tangled", so it would appeal to both little boys and girls, I was worried that this movie would be one more example of how the corporate heads of the company can demographic a good story to nothing. However, this is far from the truth. "Tangled" is a sheer delight. It's bright, funny, tuneful and a visual feast. Again, with "Tangled", Disney, or rather the Disney magic, is back.

The story of "Tangled" is roughly the traditional story of Rapunzel, however, the prince has been swapped out for a thief and she has a chameleon companion to get her through the days. Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) has grown-up believing that the world is a wicked and frightening place and that her mother (the fantastic Donna Murphy) has been protecting her by steeling her away in a tower. In actuality her mother isn't her mother at all, rather an old hag who kidnapped her shortly after her birth in order to use the magical restorative power of her hair. That's why she never cuts it. It her hair gets cut, it loses it's magic. Therefore, life for Rapunzel is a never-ending schedule of various indoor activities (reading, cooking, painting and, of course, brushing her hair). That is until a thief by the name of Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) stumbles upon her tower and changes her life forever.

Being the Disney nerd that I am, I actually purchased the soundtrack to "Tangled" last week and have been listening to the songs, getting every little nuance and plot detail. I really enjoyed the music, but it works even better in the context of the story. Melodies that were merely enjoyable are transporting in the narrative and many of them are so memorably staged that they immediately draw ones mind to the early 90's Disney heyday of "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin".

Visually, this is truly a stunning movie. Plus, it's the first movie I've seen since last year's "Avatar" that uses the 3D presentation as an immersing and enhancing story element as opposed to a cheap "gotcha" gimmick. The colors are bright and warm, the backgrounds lush and the character animation is superb.

The only depressing thing about this movie was the opening trailers. Normally, I'm the biggest fan of movie trailers. I push to get there in time to see them all and relish in the ones that I love. However, the upcoming onslaught of horrible looking "family" entertainment (including next month's "Yogi Bear" and the next Disney/motion-capture film "Mars Needs Moms") just reminds me of how much producers talk down, not only to children, but to their families. If you want to experience something truly special with your children, take them to "Tangled" this week. If you want to see something at Christmas time that's truly special, skip "Yogi Bear" and see "Tangled" again. If quality films make a mint, we just might get more of them. And, if "Tangled" makes a mint, we might just see the completion of that return-to-Disney-magic that we've all been hoping for.

Grade: A

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I" / Dir. by David Yates / Rated PG-13 / 146 min. / Warner Bros.

Has there ever been a book series and, by nature, a film series more evolving than the Harry Potter series? Among the many strokes of brilliance executed by J.K. Rowling in creating the series, one of the most impressive is choosing to have the central characters evolve in such a natural way that the shifts in tone from light and wide-eyed to foreboding and unsure seem less like a narrative decision and more like an inevitable fact of life. As we grow older, our problems get more and more complex. So it is for all of us, including those Hogwarts-attending magic-doers. Although, I do admit that as I've matured, my problems have never approached the level of sheer weight as those of Harry Potter.

The new film (part 1 of 2) is the darkest of the lot. Not only is Voldemort, Harry's arch-nemesis, back and in full power, but he's also completely infiltrated the Ministry of Magic, which basically means that the list of people Harry and his friends can trust just got a heck of a lot shorter. With the exception of his stalwart pals Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint), Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is more on his own in this edition than any previous installment. For the first time since the story began, he has no mentor. They've all either been killed or otherwise taken out of the picture. The trio are adrift in the real world, having forgone their final year of studies at Hogwart's in order to fulfill a very dangerous and rather cryptic mission given to Harry by Dumbledore. Since Dumbledore is not available to consult, the three are left to figure out how to find and destroy several Horcrux's, magical items that contain pieces of Voldemort's soul. Once the Horcrux's are destroyed, the dark wizard will finally be mortal and tactically vulnerable.

One of the most notable things about "Deathly Hallows" is that it immediately departs from the formula of the other stories (i.e. - Harry goes to school, he and his friend try to solve a mystery while studying for exams and playing Quiddich, they all fall in awkward teenage love, etc.) Taking the characters away from the safety of Hogwart's not only allows the plot to move into new and unforeseen directions, it also seems to give the lead actors permission to really own their parts. The casting for the Harry Potter films has been uniformly excellent (this is the best contribution made by initial director, Christ Columbus). However, up to this point, I wasn't really convinced that the central trio were actually actors, as opposed to children who grew up with the characters for long enough that they instinctively knew how to approach them. No, these performances are sure and masterful. In fact, that's the word that describes the entire film the best. Masterful.

The artistic choices made by the director? Masterful. The screenplay that is a paragon of "show, don't tell" virtues? Masterful. The engaging and virtually seamless special effects? Masterful. The musical score that may not be melodically memorable, but creates a mood perfectly balanced between menace and whimsy? Masterful.

In fact, the story is so masterfully done that the only complaint is that the whole audience would be perfectly happy to sit for another 2 1/2 hours and finish the story. I know that we have to wait until July, but this film is so engaging and beautiful that the months can't fly by fast enough.

Grade: A

This is Halloween.....

I have decided to write my traditional Halloween-themed blog. However, before I do, here are some mini-mini-mini-unbelievably mini reviews to catch you up on what I've seen since my last post.

Devil: A moderately scary B-
Easy A: An easy B (with reservations. If you ever want to know what they are, feel free to ask)
Legend of the Guardians: B
The Social Network: A thought provoking A-
Secretariat: A crowd-pleasing B+

OK, now with the Halloween stuff. In the past, I've shared what my favorite movies to watch at Halloween time are and I think we all have our own list of movies that need to be enjoyed to fully acknowledge the arrival of All Hallow's Eve. However, this year I've been in a little bit of a funk. For one, I've been way too busy to just sit down and watch movies, so if I want a quick Halloween fix, I've been leaning on installments of The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episodes.

Secondly, for some reason I've been thinking about a different type of scary movie. One that wasn't meant to be scary at all, or rather scary scenes in non-scary movies. I think we all have a mental list of those too. Scenes that show up in the middle of a Disney cartoon or a family film that make us go, "What was that?!?" So that's the focus of my blog this year. The ten scariest scenes in movies that are not known as being scary.

NOTE: Obviously I'll be discussing specific scenes and plot points, so avoid reading if you haven't seen the movies. There'll be spoilers a plenty.

Honorable Mention: "The Care Bears Movie"

Yes, I'm serious. The reason I don't include this with the rest of the list is that it's not a particular scene that's at issue. It's the whole central premise of the movie. If you've never seen this film and think I'm off my rocker, let me explain the plot to you. A child, who is the assistant to a circus magician, encounters a book of evil magic and, after opening it becomes possessed by a dark spirit. Yes, it's the Care Bears vs. the necronomicon! Of course, they defeat the darkness with an extra powerful Care Bear Stare, but still, who in their right mind thought "Ah, the kids'll love this caring story of demonic possession"?

10. King Kong (2005): The Pit - Yes, I know that some people may balk at my inclusion of this, a remake of the original monster movie, but I argue that it's better known as a tragic and unconventional take on "Beauty and the Beast" than a horror movie. That having been said, when the hapless explorers fall into a giant pit only to be devoured by giant bugs, it's pretty shocking. You can feel Peter Jackson reliving a little bit of his horror movie past in this scene. Genuinely disturbing.

9. Princess and the Frog - "Friends On the Other Side" - Uncle Walt loved scaring little kids, as is evidenced by the inclusion of a few more Disney movies on this list. Perhaps that's why last years "The Princess and the Frog" was considered a return to Disney-style story telling. Much like the aforementioned "Care Bears Movie" dark magic, voodoo to be specific, plays a key part in the plot. In the song "Friends on the Other Side", the villainous Shadow Man calls upon evil spirits to transform the debonair Prince Naveen into the titular frog. The ceremony comes complete with a prick of the Prince's finger and the storing of his blood in a voodoo idol. Just good old-fashioned family fun.

8. The Black Hole - Maximilian's Cuisine-art - In the early 80's, Disney was doing everything they could to imitate the success of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg (much like they've tried to imitate the success of Pixar and DreamWorks in recent years). So it was only a matter of time before they tried to make their own space adventure as an answer to "Star Wars". Well, "The Black Hole" ended up being a fascinating failure. Instead of sticking to the action like Lucas did, the writers tried to go the "2001" route and confuse the audience at every turn. However, there's one scene that was forever scarred into my 12-year-old cerebellum. When the evil robot Maximilian turns on Anthony Perkins and dices him up with his hands/spinning blades. Granted, there's a certain amount of irony in Norman Bates meeting a grisly end at the end of a blade, but it was still pretty shocking to a kid.

7. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) - "Hellfire" - Don't get me wrong, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is actually one of my favorite Disney films. The music is soaring and the central theme of tolerance is timeless. However, I know many people that hate it just because of this scene. In the musical number "Hellfire", the antagonist, Judge Claude Frollo begins praying that his temptation towards the gypsy Esmerelda will be diminished. However, as the song progresses it's clear that he has no intention of trying to control his own desires. He comes to the conclusion that either she will be his or he will kill her, burning down all of Paris if he has to. At that point a chorus of ghostly monks rise from the floor, surrounding him menacingly. It truly is a terrifying scene and it does indeed deal with subject matter much more adult than one would expect from a Disney film. However, I would argue that it's far better for a mature child to be shown the dangers of hypocrisy as opposed to the dangers of multi-tentacled sea witches or power-hungry lions.

6. Pinocchio - Pleasure Island - Hedonism never pays. It will get you drunk or high, but you will invariably turn into a jackass. That's the central premise of this scene in the 1940 classic "Pinocchio". As the kidnapped children partake of cigarettes and gambling and alcohol, they all turn, graphically and horrifically, into donkeys. They are then sold as beasts of burden to the highest bidder. It's interesting that the jarring nature of the transformation, not to mention the wanton use of the word jackass, was less of an issue in the 40's than it is now, but it definitely showed that Walt Disney loved to use fear as a teaching tool. Speaking of which.....

5. Dumbo - "Pink Elephants on Parade" - Drinking will make you see horrific mutant elephants who can turn from comical to nightmarish with the blink of an eye and the rip of an elephant's ear. What's even worse is that Dumbo didn't even mean to get drunk. He just fell in an open barrel or alcohol. Poor kid.

4. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - Shelob's lair - As I mentioned earlier, director Peter Jackson got his start in low-budget horror movies. His films "Bad Taste", "Meet the Feebles" and "Dead Alive" are notoriously dark and gruesome. He holds his horror roots back for much of The Lord of the Rings films (with just the occasional specter or nightmare), but he let's it all out for this scene, in which the heroic Frodo is stalked by a giant man-eating spider named Shelob. Keeping the scene shrouded in silence, Jackson ratchets up the tension until the moment that (GASP!) Shelob injects her poison into Frodo and wraps him up for later. We've spent the whole film series watching Frodo escape one inescapable predicament after another, but in this dark, terrifying moment, Jackson lets the spider win. If only for a little while.

3. Spider-Man 2 - Doc Ock's surgery - Much like Peter Jackson, the director of the Spider-Man trilogy, Sam Raimi, got his start in horror. However, we really don't see an inkling of it until this shockingly brutal scene early in the second film. While he is still unconscious on an operating table, Doc Ock's arms spring to life murdering every doctor and nurse in a particularly grisly fashion. After seeing this movie in the theater, I was surprised that the studio let Raimi keep the scene in, so jarring is the tone shift from the rest of the movie. However, it was still fun seeing Raimi romp in his old macabre playground.

2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind - The Kidnapping - It may be hard to remember, but "Close Encounters" was actually marketed almost like a horror movie. Of course, now we know the aliens were benign and all they wanted to do was a musical jam with Kodaly hand-signals, but Spielberg originally wanted the motives of the aliens to be more obscured. No where is that better seen than in the scene when little Barry Guiler is kidnapped by the aliens. If one watches this scene and then watches "Poltergeist" it's very easy to believe that Spielberg was far more involved in the latter's filming than his executive producer credit would indicate. The lights go out, the toys and vacuum turn on independent of the power and the house is shrouded in light as the aliens try to get Barry through the chimney, the vent and, finally, ripping him from his mother's arms through the doggy door. If I were to show you this scene alone, you would be absolutely convinced that Close Encounters was a horror film.

1. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - The Boat Ride - When my nephew was younger, he had a habit of walking into a room, looking at everyone and saying, "What the?!?". He would then pause for effect and leave. This is truly the only response I can think of for this scene from the 1971 children's classic, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". What the?!? For those of you unfamiliar, Mr. Wonka invites his guests on a delightful boat ride on a chocolate river. Fanciful, no? As the boat enters a tunnel, he entertains his guests with flashing strobe lights, nightmarish visions of worms, eyeballs and chicken decapitations, all the while droning in a psychotic voice "There's no earthly way of knowing which direction they are going...." To those of my friends who believe Tim Burton's 2005 remake is far more dark and inappropriate for children than the original, I point to this scene and say...What the?!?

Well, that's my list. In the comments below, let me know what scenes from otherwise benign movies give you the heebie-jeebies. It's fun!

Plus, if you're looking for a fun Halloween activity tonight, attend Resonance Choral Ensemble's concert, "The Witching Hour". You can get your tickets here, http://www.resonancechoral.org/thewitchinghouroctober2010.cfm or at the door. Mention my last name (Elison) as a promo code at the door and you get a discount. Woo-hoo!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The Summer is Over....

I could say that I haven't posted a "summer movie wrap-up" blog because I'm choosing to follow the official end-of-summer according to the calendar. Or I could say that it's because I'm desperately holding on to the idea of warmth and vacation. However, neither of those are true. The truth is I'm a teacher and as the summer ends, my free time becomes increasingly rare. However, I hope to make amends for that now.

The overall feeling I got from this summer movie season was...."m'eh". There were two great films, a hand-full of good ones and the rest was either blandly acceptable or really, really bad. Surprisingly, critics and the general public were, for the most part, in sync with each other this summer, with the three most acclaimed summer popcorn movies ("Toy Story 3", "Inception" and "Despicable Me") becoming three of the biggest hits as well and some of the most critically loathed movies (like "Jonah Hex", "MacGruber" and "Marmaduke") totally flopped. The few critical bombs that managed to turn a profit were all attached to franchises ("The Twilight Saga: Eclipse") or T.V. show adaptations with a huge fan base ("The Last Airbender"), but other than that critics and audiences all felt the same about the movies, which was a general apathy.

However, there were some pretty good movies among the rabble. Here are my five favorites of the summer:

5. "The Other Guys" - Whoever cast this movie is brilliant. Will Farrell and Mark Wahlberg aren't the most apparent pairing, but they worked so well together in this movie. I'm sure that Mark Wahlberg, who has been mostly seen as a dramatic actor in his post-model career, will now be getting a lot more comedy roles, and deservedly so. I thought this was flat-out the funniest movie of the summer. It had a terrific cast and several of the most surprisingly funny ideas I've seen in a movie in a long time. (The "Lion Vs. Tuna" argument, the whispered brawl at the funeral, the running gag involving Farrell's "Ball and Chain", Eva Mendes). It was unlike anything Farrell had done with frequent director Adam McKay, but it was instantly my favorite thing they'd done together and, considering they also made "Anchorman" and "Talladega Nights", that's saying quite a bit.

4. "Iron Man 2" - This one got a little bit of backlash, which I really didn't understand. Granted, there's very little there in terms of character arc, but it's a comic book movie and as a serialized entry in a franchise, it worked well. All of the humor from the first movie is in place and the action set pieces are a lot of fun to look at. I loved the first "Iron Man" and thought that this one was a worthy follow-up.

3. "Despicable Me" - I don't know if a movie surprised me more than this one this summer. The animated saga of a super-villain whose life is turned upside-down by a trio of orphan girls, "Despicable Me" was bright, funny and surprisingly heartfelt. It was also one of the few movies that I've seen recently that really benefited from a 3D presentation. The colors were bright enough that the darkness of the 3D process didn't detract and the filmmakers had fun with the potential of the format. Plus, the minions are awesome. Completely and thoroughly.

2. "Inception" - It's rare that a writer lets the audience think for themselves. It's even more rare that a writer encourages it. However, that's what Christopher Nolan, writer/director of the re-vamped "Batman" franchise does with "Inception". It's a cinematic logic-puzzle. A Escher-esque spy thriller with its heart as strongly represented as its head. It's a movie that demands multiple viewings, not just so one can get all the twists and turns, but so that one can just soak up the visual atmosphere. A masterpiece.

1. "Toy Story 3" - Yep. Shocker. I loved a Pixar movie. However, in my defense, I'm far from the only one. "Toy Story 3" was, by far, the biggest grossing movie of the summer, as well as being the most critically acclaimed, with a 99% positive review score from rottentomatoes.com . Plus, in regards to the effect the movie had, Entertainment Weekly ran a poll shortly after the release of "TS3" that revealed 87% of the audience cried at least once, with a fourth of the audience brought to tears "more times than I care to count". I've been concerned as I've heard Pixar planning more and more sequels, but if their sequels can continue to be as sharp, engaging, funny and poignant as this one was, bring 'em on.


I think I'll just leave it there. I can't really give a "worst" list because I avoided the movies that obviously looked bad (no "Marmaduke" or "Vampire Sucks" for me) As the season turns, I now look forward to the movies that'll be joining "Inception" and "Toy Story 3" on the Oscar watch. I'm particularly looking forward to "The Social Network", "Hereafter" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1". However, I'll try to do a better job keeping my thoughts on the movies topical by updating the blog more often. Thanks for reading!

Review: Inception

"Inception" / Rated PG-13 / Warner Bros. / Dir. by Christopher Nolan / 148 min.

I hesitate to write this. I almost don't want to call it a review. I think I need to see "Inception" a few dozen more times before I'd feel adequate in describing it. Imagine if M.C. Escher was born 80 years later and chose film as his canvas. Then imagine if he made a "Bourne Identity" style action-thriller. That's "Inception".

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a dream extractor who is hired by companies to enter people's dreams to find and steal valuable secrets from their subconscious. He initially used his unique skill set for more noble purposes, but after an tragic event (which isn't revealed through the first half of the film), he has to stay on the run, making a living in the seamier underworld of dream-entering.

However, he's offered a proverbial "last big heist" which, if performed successfully, will clear his name. It's dangerous and he assembles a crack team to help him: Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is his point man, Ariadne (Ellen Page) is the architect who designs the dream world, Eames (Tom Hardy) is the "Forger" who assumes different identities within the dream and Siato (Ken Wantanabe) is the employer who insists on tagging along to make sure the task is completed. To reveal any of the plot beyond this would be patently criminal. The movie is as twisty and multi-layered as the dream states it strives to create and each plot point, even seemingly unimportant ones, ends up serving a greater purpose.

The true star, of course, is director/writer Christopher Nolan. Nolan is every bit the talent and genius that M. Night Shayamalan has convinced himself HE still is. He has created a story, a world, a cast of characters so multi-layered and complex that it simply cannot be fully appreciated in one viewing. The movie is almost 2 1/2 hours long, but I spent the bulk of that time leaning forward not wanting to miss a frame. Nolan, is a true original, much in the same way that Orson Wells and Alfred Hitchcock were. He dares to make big-budget, major-studio films that deal with ideas. Yes, "Inception" is a special-effects lollapalooza, but the visual tricks are there to serve the story. They exist to immerse you in the world, not to justify the world's existence.

I loved this movie. I felt the same way after seeing it that I did after seeing "The Dark Knight". I just knew that I saw something that was going to polarize some people, something that was going to spurn impassioned conversations among cinephiles for years to come. Something that, I believe, will emerge as being one of the great films of it's time. Right up to the last frame of the film, Nolan is daring you to interpret the movie, but he refuses to spoon feed you the answers, ultimately leaving you to decide what it was all about. How nice is it to have a director that not only trusts you to do your own thinking, but encourages you to think more deeply, all the while keeping you emotionally engaged and entertained. Nolan also directed "The Prestige", a film about the world of magicians. With "Inception", he proves himself to be, once again, one of the truly great magicians of cinema.

Grade: A

Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" / Rated PG / Walt Disney / Dir. by Jon Turteltaub / 121 min.

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice", Disney's latest attempt to update anything from the studio's illustrious past for new audiences, is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer ("Pirates of the Caribbean"), directed by Jon Turteltaub (the "National Treasure" movies) and written by people responsible for "Prince of Persia" and "Bedtime Stories". Whatever movie you just envisioned from that list of credits is probably right on the money. "Apprentice" is not the brainiest of movies with characters that are decidedly two-dimensional, but the makers of the film obviously intended to make a light, breezy special-effect extravaganza that leaves the brain as quickly as it engages the senses and to that end, it's very successful.

A large part of your enjoyment of this movie will depend on your tolerance of "nerd du jour", Jay Baruchel (t.v.'s "Undeclared", "She's Out of My League", "How to Train Your Dragon"). Baruchel's humorous, but potentially annoying nasal whine is proudly on display throughout the film. Personally, I find his self-effacing mannerisms amusing. He plays Dave, a brilliant, socially-awkward physicist (think the lost cast-member of "Big Bang Theory"), who unwittingly discovers that particle physics comes so easily to him because he is the "Prime Merlinian", a powerful sorcerer destined to destroy the mythical Morgana Le Fay (Alice Krige). Guiding him in this quest is his master, Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage), one of Merlin's three apprentices. Another of the three, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina), has decided to align himself with Morgana and is dedicated to helping her destroy the world by raising the greatest evil sorcerer's in history from the dead.

Yes, the plot is just another restructuring of the Campbell-ian mythic hero archetype, but complaining about the plot is sort of like complaining because "National Treasure" isn't historically accurate. It's not the point. The point is the humor, the action and the F/X, all of which are strong....not exceptional, but still enjoyable.

Cage spends most of the movie doing his normal shtick and Baruchel is solidly playing himself, but the other actors seem to be having a lot of fun, especially Molina, who has now lifted two enjoyable, if unremarkable, summer films (this and "Prince of Persia") just by showing up and having a good time.

Turteltaub is a very solid director who is just artistic enough to avoid "point and shoot" laziness, but not creative enough to really stand out. He hasn't developed a visual style per se, but he definitely has a vibe that permeates his films. With few exceptions, his movies (the "National Tresure" films, "The Kid", "While You Were Sleeping", "Cool Runnings") have a buoyant giddiness that doesn't sharpen the mind, but you really don't care as long as you're smiling. This movie fits that mold very well.

All told, this isn't a classic, but it's a perfectly enjoyable time-killer.

Final Grade: B

Review: Despicable Me

Despicable Me / Rated PG / Universal / Dir. by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud / 95 min.

In the new 3D computer-animated comedy "Despicable Me", Steve Carrel provides the voice for Gru, an aging super-villain whose super-villainy seems pretty much tied to petty vandalism and the stealing of great national landmarks, like the jumbo-tron in Times Square and the replica of the Statue of Liberty in Las Vegas. Gru is supported by his own personal techno-wizard, Dr. Nefario (unrecognizably played by Russell Brand) and an army of minions, genial creatures who are shaped like yellow Chicklets and speak in an English/nonsense hybrid that, while jumbled, is always understood. Gru longs to prove his despicable nature by stealing the moon, however his plan is constantly thwarted by enemies grand (a young upstart super-villain named Vector, played by Jason Segal) and enemies ordinary (the bank won't give him the loan he needs to build his rocket). However, his ultimate undoing is the fact that he has a heart. A heart that is softened greatly when his plan requires the adopting of three adorable orphan girls.

If you've seen any of the advertisements for "Despicable Me", you've pretty much seen the first ten minutes of the film, however, you haven't seen the best bits. This is a fast-paced, brightly-colored comedy that leaves you smiling the entire running time. While the voice work across the board is excellent, the characters that steal the show are those darn minions (Mostly voiced by director Pierre Coffin, with one, Jerry, played by Jemaine Clement of "Flight of the Conchord" fame). The minions are the most inventive and giggle-inducing creations I've seen in a very long time. Their moments alone are worth the price of admission.

However, the element that was not advertised (in one of the most aggressive advertising campaigns of the last year)was how much heart this movie has. It's like a combination of Pixar and Looney Tunes and that's every bit a compliment. Granted, the jokes are the main reason for watching, but the story of a villain becoming a hero due to the love of three orphan girls is heart-warming and genuine. Especially when we see the lack of love Gru had as a child. His mother, a sharply-critical nag played by Julie Andrews, was mockingly cruel when he expressed a desire to become an astronaut, a desire that gradually warped into the desire to steal the moon. A sort of "if I can't have it, no one can" type of thing.

Now, if I may digress for a moment, "Despicable Me" got me thinking about something. This has, by most accounts, been a largely disappointing summer movie season. There have been a number of entertaining films, a disproportionately large number of awful films and just one unanimously embraced film, "Toy Story 3". "Despicable Me" is now my second favorite movie so far this summer (behind "TS3") and, before those two, the strongest entertainment of the year had been "How to Train Your Dragon". At first, I could chalk that up to the fact that I'm an animation nut, a truth to which I freely admit. However, I think there's more to it. For me, the perfect film is one in which you feel thoroughly entertained, but you also feel equally edified, either intellectually or emotionally. It seems that, thanks to the reputation of Pixar, many of the most creative storytellers are now working in animation. It invites the best of all worlds: the visual showmanship of the best action movies, the demented wit of the best Monty Python sketches, the heart of the most sincere dramas. It takes time when done right. I just wish that the makers of live-action popcorn movies would take the same time and the same pride that these filmmakers do. If they had, this summer's movie season could've been one for the record books.

As it stands, "Despicable Me" is one of the few bright spots of the summer. Not an animated classic, but a vibrant, funny and heartfelt cartoon that will please many a crowd in the remaining weeks of summer. If you're looking for a fun way to get out of the heat, you could do way worse than this one.

Grade: A-