(1) How arresting the title is: “Despicable me.” How similar to the words I say each morning to the scrawny guy in the bathroom mirror. “You’re despicable.” He laughs coquettishly and waves me away. “No, you are.”
(2) Do movies like this feed my inner child? I’m not so sure. For one thing he’s not so far beneath the surface and he’s more like a wizened little gremlin than a bona fide child.
(3) Isn’t it interesting how many of these movie characters bear names whose connotations are presumably lost on their primary target audience? How many children will appreciate that Gru is named after the Russian intelligence agency? Maybe more than I imagine.
(4) Haven’t seen this one yet, but I intend to when it comes out. Why? Maybe because I tend to find animated features reliably entertaining (especially when I’m able to skip over the boring bits). The broad narrative architecture usually disappoints but I almost always find the visual “texture” appealing. I also have a low threshold for humour – and this helps.
(5) Struck once again by how much trailers (and the expectations resulting from them) may be shaped by careful editing. As Keats wrote in 1818, “A perfect trailer is a joy forever, its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness . . .” Very few mainstream features are as exciting or as funny as their trailers (and conversely very few trailers for independent or “art-house” movies actually do them justice).
[Ok. The Hours doesn't have a "perfect trailer" - but it's still my favourite movie]
