Steve Carell Archives | Otaku No Culture

When Despicable Me 4 Attempts to Be Fantastic By Making It Marvel, There’s Something Missing

When Pierre Coffin is not co-directing, some of that early film charm is missing in Despicable Me 4.

Despicable Me 4 Movie Poster Minions Even after five films, I am still asking where all the heroes have gone in Despicable Me 4? In this latest, Gru (Steve Carell) is an agent for the Anti-Villain League (AVL) and will go undercover to undo the criminal element. Whether his motive is to right all his past wrongs, this franchise rarely goes deep into his mind to understand why he is now what he is instead of the rascal from times gone by.

That also includes dealing with threats like Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrel), whom he was once buddies with. This new character’s plan for world domination isn’t as crazy as what past films imagine. I wish they had dedicated more attention to Poppy Prescott’s (Joey King) attempts to convince Felonious to engage in criminal activities, instead of focusing on the other aspects.

Elsewhere, five Minions undergo mutation to become superheroes as part of the AVL’s attempt to give this world some heroes. Just like the previous films, their antics are fillers, and while they learn how to use their newfound powers, what’s presented is more slapstick moments than anything good. When these simple organisms have little purpose in life other than to serve Gru, well, all I have to ask is what happened to the prior team of Kevin, Stuart and Bob? Continue reading “When Despicable Me 4 Attempts to Be Fantastic By Making It Marvel, There’s Something Missing”

On The Rise of Gru, Minions and Fatherhood. For Better or Worse, How Bad Can It Get?

To see how the Despicable Me franchise started requires watching this prequel, Minions The Rise of Gru.

Minions The Rise of Gru Spoiler Alert

Fans of the Minions’ antics can only take so much before going bananas themselves. Their craziness can’t carry a film from start to end, and the latest (subtitled The Rise of Gru) puts this lead back to the fore–sort of. As a result, we finally get to see why these little yellow guys are adored by him. That’s because their relationship with Felonius (Steve Carell) is steadfast, and it’s cute to see how often they’re helping each other out.

Throughout the film, I was sad to see this boy on his own. Marlena, his mother, doesn’t always give him the attention he needs and she’s even kookier than ever at her young age. Although we know where his other parental unit went (most of that story was revealed in Despicable Me 3), Gru really needs a father figure in his life. All he needs is love.

Pretty soon, we find Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin) is the man with the plan! His drama and Gru’s are similar enough to help them bond. Continue reading “On The Rise of Gru, Minions and Fatherhood. For Better or Worse, How Bad Can It Get?”

All Good Things Does Not Come as Clones in Despicable Me 3’s Latest

In a movie wanting to behave like Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, the lack of extra depth made Despicable Me 3 feel hardly filling.

Despicable Me 3 Movie Poster The heart of the Despicable Me franchise lies in how to tame the ruthless heart of Gru (voiced by Steve Carell). He’s an eccentric misanthrope who learns the value of community. The first film sees him take advantage of others to further his own gains (until the children he adopts win his heart), and the second movie sees him trying to settle into a parental role. In Despicable Me 3, he’s a family man now and the struggles is more with him accepting who he is now.

The children Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Grier) and Agnes (Nev Scharrel) do not play an important role in this outing. They are merely there to remind audiences that Gru is a family man. He’s happily married to Lucy (Kristen Wiig), but after losing their job at the Anti-Villain League (AVL) after a botched attempt to prevent Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker) from stealing a huge diamond, just what’s next requires him to evaluate what can he do next? This turn of events has Mel (the leader of the Minions) unhappy and Dru (Gru’s long-lost twin brother) trying to convince him to return to a life of crime.

Continue reading “All Good Things Does Not Come as Clones in Despicable Me 3’s Latest”

The Minions Just Wanna Have Fun in Despicable Me 2

In Despicable Me 2, the Minions are still working for Gru (Steve Carell) like lemmings with a renewed purpose.

Let’s face it, the big reason why the Despicable Me 2 is successful is because of all those Minions. The most prominent are Phil, Kevin and Dave along with all 101 of them, if that’s the correct count.

They are just as cute as those Dalmatians, however they are more like the Martians from Toy Story, ooohing and aahing at everything they encounter. And these characters do not disappoint in their hilarious hi-jinks in the sequel.

In fact, they even outdo the Penguins of Madagascar as great comedic teams. Fans of slapstick will no doubt be looking forward to the Minion movie, due in theaters Dec 2014, more than the Penguins, due in 2015.

Continue reading “The Minions Just Wanna Have Fun in Despicable Me 2”

Despicable Me 2 (2013) Featurette – Meet Lucy Wilde

In this featurette Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig introduce us to Lucy Wilde, member of the Anti-Villian League. And we get a look at the Latino super villain El Macho (reportedly to be voiced by Al Pacino).