For those of us with gray hair, the iconic image above is all too familiar.  It is the image of Alfred Hitchcock, or at least a caricature of him, as he appeared in some of his famous ‘Alfred Hitchcock presents’ TV specials,  and then of course his many famous films.  But in this case it is the image of a villain named Gru (played by Steve Carrell).   This story does not sport the rather bizarre plot twists of a Hitchcock film. It is after all a children’s film, and a jolly good one as well.  In fact, I would say overall its a much better, more original, creative, and 3-DDy film than Toy Story III, though if I hear the phrase ‘eye-popping 3D’ one more time this summer I may scream. 

So what about this film?  It is not a Pixar film, rather it comes from Universal Studios with some help from George Lucas’s folks, and frankly this film does 3D even better than any of the other movies I have seen this year, with the possible exception of Avatar. It really does grab your attention.  In fact, at the end of a film I was actually swallowed by one the guys below— you need to watch out for them. They are real scene stealers….
 

But I digress.   The film pits an aging villain (Gru)  against a young upstart (Victor, who calls himself Vector).  It seems a strange theme for a children’s film— ‘evil vs. evil’.  And for good measure we even have ‘the Bank of Evil’ (not so subtly subtitled ‘formerly Lehman Brothers’) who gives bad loans to bad people— like Gru and Vector. 

But we have forgotten something.  People can and do change, however remarkable it may seem to the cynical, and this movie is actually about that sort of slow, silent, but significant change in the main character in the movie.   And who are the change agents?  Why three cute little orphan girls, that Gru adopts in a plot to steal Vector’s shrink ray gun.  But a funny thing happens on the way to being the baddest villain on earth who actually steals the moon by shrinking and retrieving it.   He has a change of heart.  

I will not spoil the plot for you, but say that there is no fluff in this one hour and 35 minute film, and plenty of action, funny scenes and really amazing 3D effects.   I will offer a small trailer sample in another post… here I will say,  this is the best children’s (and parent’s) movie of the summer. It has a good heart and message, and those little yellow minions—- well your children will want one for Christmas, so brace yourself.