Four out of Five stars
Running time: 95 minutes

Evil mastermind Gru (Steve Carrell) just wants to be the best bad guy of all time by stealing the moon until he encounters three young girls by the name of Margo, Edith and Agnes. Directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud and Illumination Studios (Monsters vs Aliens, How To Train Your Dragon) have put together a near perfect animated feature that explores love, family and robot cookies.

What's it all about?
Since Gru (Carrell) was a child, anything he has ever attempted has never been good enough for his mother, voiced by Julie Andrews. Now an adult, Gru is a lone wolf who does not enjoy making friends but instead using his Freeze Ray on anyone he encounters.

A new evil kid on the block, Vector, puts Gru's title of evil mastermind of the century in jeopardy and also steals the Shrink Ray weapon from Gru, so he must come up with a plan to reclaim his position.

After noticing how much Vector likes cookies, Gru adopts Margo, Edith and Agnes, three girls from Ms Hattie's School for Girls, and sends them into Vector's house to get the Shrink Ray back. The adoption was only meant to be temporary but the girls have a more profound effect on Gru than he had anticipated. Gru must decide what he wants more - the moon or a family.

The good
Despicable Me in 2D is still a really enjoyable experience. It's obvious the film was made with 3D technology in mind but the story line trumps any flash extras. Russell Brand as Dr Nefario was a bit weird to get used to at first but he soon convinced me he was the cantankerous and sharp-minded scientist he is and is a hilarious addition to the cast. Another strange casting decision that worked reasonably well was Julie Andrews (Sound of Music, Princess Diaries) as Gru's mother who spoke with a thick European accent.

The cool
Illumination Studios is proving how worthy a competitor it is with Pixar and Disney and is creating great stories with cool characters kids can love. Despicable Me shows how letting someone in can change your whole life's direction and priorities can change. I really enjoyed watching Gru grow as a person and have fun along the way with the three girls. He may have had other plans for Margo, Edith and Agnes but they turned out to be much more to him.

Worth seeing?
Of course! And if this review still hasn't convinced you to see Despicable Me, Gru's minions, the little yellow guys with goggles on, will ensure you are entertained.