Author: Alton Williams

Despicable Me 3D ****
Despicable Me 2D ***½

First, there was Walt Disney Animation Studios, then there was Pixar and DreamWorks Animation, then Blue Sky Studios and Sony Pictures Animation followed and now, witness if you will, the birth of what already looks to be the sixth major Hollywood animation studio – Illumination Entertainment.

Founded by Chris Meledandri, formerly of Blue Sky and executive producer of ‘Ice Age’, Ice Age 2 and Horton Hears A Who!, Illumination has come out of nowhere to take the animation world by storm with their first ever film, Despicable Me, being a huge hit at the US box office, even outgrossing DreamWorks’ Shrek Forever After there. The first of this year’s double whammy of supervillain themed 3D computer animated features, the second being DreamWorks’ Megamind out in December, Despicable Me is a film that has performed well simply because audiences like it and why wouldn’t they – this is a film that has a fun if not entirely original concept, cute if not groundbreaking animation, funny if not boundary pushing humour and an impressive voice including Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Jack McBrayer and Danny McBride. There’s certainly nothing despicable about the quality of family entertainment on offer here.

In a happy suburban neighbourhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbours, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions and his aging scientist associate Dr. Nefario (voiced by Russell Brand), hapless supervillain Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) is planning the biggest heist in the history of the world – he is going to steal the Moon, if he can first defeat a rival who stands in his way – the younger, more successful supervillain Vector (voiced by Jason Segel) – that is. Gru delights in all things wicked and, armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he has his sights set firmly on achieving his impossible sounding goal. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. The world’s greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier) and Agnes (voiced by Elsie Fisher). “Just because he’s a bad guy it doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy.”

For Illumination Entertainment, Despicable Me is a very good if not wholly remarkable first entry into the computer animation game. The animation is certainly not groundbreaking and doesn’t attempt anything that we haven’t seen before but, with its cartoony as opposed to photo-realistic look, it has more than enough texture and detail to still impress and is definitely very cute, colourful and charming in its look and feel. French directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud do bring a bit of distinctive flare to proceedings, though, something which is evident in the design of the many cool supervillain gadgets, weapons, vehicles and lairs and also the characters, in particular the Minions who are totally adorable. In 3D the animation is even more spectacular still, the extra dimension really being put to some nifty use here. While not a lot comes out of the screen, the sight of a rocket poking its nose out of the screen is very impressive and in one scene set aboard a rollercoaster, the 3D literally turns the movie into a rollercoaster ride, it almost feeling like we are really on the rollercoaster along with the characters. Elsewhere, a stunning aerial dogfight is also enhanced considerably by being in 3D. So, visually the film is superb and the 3D is of excellent quality but what about the other aspects of the film? Sadly, while the visuals are strong and show substantial ability on the part of the filmmakers, the writing is rather lacking. The invention of an entire language for the Minions to speak is an impressive if rather redundant achievement and there is heart to spare in the story but the plot is lacking surprises and will be entirely predictable to anyone but the youngest of viewers, not that they would care anyway. Additionally, the humour is a bit hit and miss, many and gags and lines making for laugh out loud moments but the film not managing to be consistently laugh out loud funny for the entire duration. Also, the humour is largely of the unsophisticated slapstick variety, guaranteed to appease children but not necessarily older viewers, although there are a few smart gags for accompanying adults, ones that will be meaningless to kids but hilarious to grown-ups, one of the best being in a scene where Gru enters the Bank of Evil and beneath the sign it reads “Formerly Lehman Brothers”. Unfortunately, the writers fail to deliver much in the way of dialogue with the actors not being given anything memorable to say that would raise their performances to the next level. It’s a shame because the vocals themselves are quite excellent, particularly those of Steve Carell, Russell Brand and Jason Segel. At the very least, however, Carell helps to make Gru a very lovable supervillain and an almost unrecognisable Brand proves very amusing. So, all in all, Despicable Me is a very cute debut for the fledgling animation studio but one that shows that they still have a lot of work to do on the writing side of things before they can really stand up to the big boys of the animation world. Not in Pixar’s league then but a solid first effort for Illumination and one that shows they certainly do have what it takes.

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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)

Alpha and Omega 3D *½
Alpha and Omega 2D *

One of the lower tier contenders vying for the family audience over this year’s October half term holiday, Alpha and Omega is the latest computer animated feature from a small animation studio – in this case, the little known Crest Animation – to try and compete with the big players in the business.
And, on paper at least, it certainly seems to have what it takes to stand up to big films like Despicable Me and Legend of the Guardians. It has a family friendly concept with significant potential for adventure and laughs, it has a surprisingly impressive vocal cast for a production as small as this and is presented in fashionable 3D. It also boasts one of the final performances of actor Dennis Hopper who sadly died in May this year and to whom this film is dedicated. That won’t mean a thing to younger viewers of course but for accompanying adults it may provide a greater incentive for seeing it. It’s a good job there is one more performance from Hopper yet to come, however, as Alpha and Omega would be a pretty lousy film to go out on. You see, this film may sound good on paper but in practice it is anything but.

Although they’re members of the same wolf pack, Kate (voiced by Hayden Panettiere) and Humphrey (voiced by Justin Long) are worlds apart. Kate is at the top of the pack – an Alpha, devoted to duty. Humphrey, an Omega, lives for the moment and is right down at the bottom. When they were younger they were the best of friends but pressure from the leader of the pack, Kate’s father Winston (voiced by Danny Glover), has forced them apart and when a rivalry between the pack and another headed by Tony (voiced by Dennis Hopper) can only be resolved by the marriage of Kate to Tony’s son Garth (voiced by Chris Carmack), they seem set to be driven even farther apart. However, things change when Kate and Humphrey are captured by rangers and taken hundreds of miles away from their Canadian homelands. To get back to their home they must embark on a perilous cross-country trek, encountering grizzly bears, prickly porcupines and golfing birds Marcel (voiced by Larry Miller) and Paddy (voiced by Eric Price). Meanwhile, back home, conflict is developing between the opposing packs as Garth begins to fall for Kate’s sister Lilly (voiced by Christina Ricci). As Kate and Humphrey continue their amazing journey they unexpectedly find that they actually make a pretty good team. But will they make it home in time before disaster strikes their pack and will they realize their true feelings for one another?

In an industry where seven major animation studios routinely release films featuring spectacular high quality computer animated visuals, CG animated films by smaller animation companies can often suffer by comparison. Alpha and Omega, however, doesn’t need to be compared with better films to come across badly, it simply isn’t very good in its own right. While occasionally proving rather cute and generally being passable, the animation doesn’t really look that good, just seeming cheap and lacking both texture and detail. while the 3D is not utilized to its full potential, adding a sense of depth but, aside from a few shots featuring a waterfall, snow falling from the sky and some clouds, adding little to the overall experience of the film. What really lets the film down though is not the visuals but the writing. The story is so completely predictable that not only will you feel like you’ve seen it before, you actually will have (unless you’re a really young child anyway), the dialogue is just weak and obvious and the film is largely devoid of laughs, the humour based entirely around lame gags and puns that only the youngest children are likely to giggle at and even then not much. Suffice to say with mediocre dialogue, the impressive vocal cast is simply wasted on this film. So, Alpha and Omega is a film that will only entertain the most undemanding of youngsters and will probably bore everyone else. Don’t waste your money on this when there are so many better choices for family viewing out at the moment. Of this year’s half term releases, this film is definitely the omega of the pack.

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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)