Today’s Prayer Focus
MOVIE REVIEW

Despicable Me

also known as “Mi villano favorito,” “Cattivissimo me,” “Gru—Mi villano favorito,” “Ich—Einfach Unverbesserlich,” “Meu Malvado Favorito,” “Moi, moche et méchant”
MPA Rating: PG-Rating (MPA) for rude humor and mild action.

Reviewed by: Raphael Vera
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Better than Average
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Kids Family Teens
Genre: Animation Comedy Family Kids
Length: 1 hr. 35 min.
Year of Release: 2010
USA Release: July 9, 2010 (wide—3,200+ theaters)
DVD: December 14, 2010
Copyright, Universal Picturesclick photos to ENLARGE Copyright, Universal Pictures Copyright, Universal Pictures
Relevant Issues
Copyright, Universal Pictures

The Moon in the Bible

orphans

adoption

Kid Explorers™
Adventures in the rainforest! Learn about the Creator of the universe by exploring His marvelous creation. Fun for the whole family with games, activities, stories, answers to children’s questions, color pages, and more! One of the Web’s first and most popular Christian Web sites for children. Nonprofit, evangelical, nondenominational.
Copyright, Universal Pictures Copyright, Universal Pictures Copyright, Universal Pictures Copyright, Universal Pictures Copyright, Universal Pictures Copyright, Universal Pictures Copyright, Universal Pictures
Featuring Russell Brand (Dr. Nefario—voice), Ken Jeong (Scientist—voice), Jason Segel (Vector—voice), Steve Carell (Gru—voice), Miranda Cosgrove (Margo—voice), Will Arnett (Mr. Perkins—voice), Kristen Wiig (Miss Hattie—voice), Julie Andrews (Gru’s Mom—voice), Jemaine Clement (Tim—voice), Danny McBride (Fred McDade—voice), See all »
Director Pierre Coffin
Chris Renaud
Producer Illumination Entertainment
Nina Rappaport
John Cohen
Janet Healy
Christopher Meledandri
Robert Taylor
Distributor

“Superbad. Superdad.”

The sands of Egypt have just revealed that the Pyramid of Giza is a fake. This is just the latest theft of one of the world’s national treasures by some mysterious evil mastermind.

Enter Gru. Gru (Steve Carell) certainly fits the profile. Though he lives in the suburbs, he freezes people, at will, goes out of his way to upset children, and even has the requisite subterranean lair under his home—complete with an army of little yellow minions. Only, he didn’t steal the pyramid. A new and younger villain by the name of Vector (Jason Segel) did.

Needing to prove he is still at the top of his game, he begins planning the heist of the century; stealing the moon. Unfortunately, his comically nefarious ways begin to unravel when he becomes the caretaker of three orphaned little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes. The eldest, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), is the most cynical, but it’s the youngest, Agnes, that begins to see that Gru just may be the Dad they have been looking for.

Can Gru overcome his new nemeses in the race literally to the moon while taking care of three little girls that threaten to change his comfortably despicable life?

Objectionable Issues

The Lord’s name is never taken in vain and the alternative “Oh My Gosh” is refreshingly used instead. When the most objectionable words uttered, by two characters exactly twice, are “Oh, poop,” you know you have a family-friendly film.

There is one somewhat objectionable scene involving a minion sitting on a copier, handing out photocopies of his butt, that was very out of place with the rest of the film. The producers no doubt felt this was acceptable, since the minions are not quite human nor very bright, but this does merit mentioning.

The orphanage, where the girls first come from, is run by Miss Hattie (Kristen Wiig) who seems only interested in the girls meeting their cookie sales goals and is not above putting kids who don’t in a “Box of Shame,” which is nothing more than a cardboard box so named.

There is comic violence throughout, though no real peril is suggested, and most of the laughs, and there are many, come from Steve Carell’s hilariously over-the-top presentation of Gru. There is one slight exception; when one of the girls enters a spike laden sarcophagus, it closes in on her and a liquid starts seeping through the bottom. It is very quickly seen to only be her juice box that got pierced.

Lessons

Gru’s apparent penchant for evil is seen as rooted in his mother’s rejection of him as a child. As often as the young Gru, seen in flashback, shows something to his mother (Julie Andrews in a minor role), she just as quickly dismisses it and him. We are reminded what the Word of God says about the parent’s role in child-rearing and what a difference that would have made in Gru’s life.

“Fathers do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)

Neither Gru nor Vector are, of course, above stealing to further their own plans, but while one learns from this, the other does not, and so the story echoes the wisdom from Proverbs that states:

“Ill-gotten treasures are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death.” (Proverbs 10:2)

All three girls are shown saying their prayers for the night, trusting in a future that they could not yet see, but would receive. Just as we should pray in faith to our Father in heaven knowing he will take care of us.

“He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him.” (1 Chronicles 5:20)

Gru had always been seeking to impress his mom with bigger and better schemes, to no avail. Only when he begins to live for others does he truly become alive and surprisingly find the acceptance he was looking for. How comforting is it to know that, in a much better way, God himself will provide what we truly desire, as the Psalmist reminds us:

“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalms 37:4)

Recommendation

“Despicable Me” is as entertaining, charming and funny as you would hope a family film to be. Steve Carell does his comic best, and the change in his character is done slowly and believably. An otherwise brief dive into potty humor does not dampen the end result: a fun film for the family, that should entertain all ages. Regarding the 3D version, while the kids will appreciate the dedicated effects from time to time, including those in the credits, 3D is not necessary to enjoy this film.

Violence: Mild / Profanity: None / Sex/Nudity: Minor

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Positive
Positive—I had the opportunity of viewing “Despicable Me” at an advance screening. I had low expectations going in to the theatre, based on the previews that I had seen. I, also, have a very tender-hearted 5 year old, who gets scared at movies fairly often. We were all pleasantly surprised by the movie. It was wonderful and had a lovely message. My daughter had a few times when she was a little scared, but not too bad.

There were quite a few laugh-out-loud funny moments. As with a lot of movies, I could do without the “butt” humor. That just isn’t necessary. One thing that impressed me is that at one point, one of the girls in the movie said, “Oh my gosh!”. I was thankful that they chose not to take the Lord’s name in vain. Overall, a pretty clean movie and a nice story. The kids are ready to go see it as soon as it opens!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Kari, age 34 (USA)
Positive—My friend and I originally decided to head to a theme park today, but because of weather we had to make other plans. We decided to go see “Despicable Me” instead. Well, I can honestly say we made a good decision.

This movie was good. The acting was good. The plot was good. Not to mention, this movie was really funny to watch (especially the minions). The CGI (computer graphic images) was incredible and I was really impressed by the quality of this film. There was no language problem either which is impressive as well. Now, though this was an awesome movie there is still one thing this movie could’ve done without (though it was the base for most of the comedy in this film) and that was the butt humor. It really wasn’t necessary. One “butt scene” is fine but then when it becomes repetitive, it’s just too much and becomes a little offensive and boring.

Would I recommend this movie to other Christians? Yes. Is it a movie for younger children? Possibly.

I would recommend this film for ages 8 and up due to the butt humor that occurred. Good job Hollywood. Keep up the good work!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 5
Alexander Malsan, age 20 (USA)
Positive—…it was a very good movie. I laughed my head off the whole time.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Excellent! / Moviemaking quality: 5
Daniel, age 18 (USA)
Positive—Greetings once again to all my friends in the land of movie and TV reviews! Of all the reviews I have written thus far I believe that this one will be the most positive. Let’s begin shall we? I went to see this film with a good friend but in truth I was less than enthusiastic about the plotline. My suspicions were confirmed when we were greeted by a crowd of noisy tots in the theater. My friend (a fellow college student) had been waiting to see this film for some time and was visibly excited. I took my seat with a sigh and braced myself for the endless shower of popcorn I was sure would rain down from the fists of charming little ones.

At first I rolled my eyes at the slapstick gags and was a bit taken back by the main character’s level of blatant insensitivity to his fellow human beings. However, the story soon developed a quality of intrigue and I found myself chuckling and (gasp!) smiling. Once the three orphan girls entered the tale the audience (which I finally noticed, included several teens and even grandparents) suddenly quieted. Everyone it seemed was silently begging the title character (Gru) to take pity on them… and he did. (SPOILER WARNING) As Gru’s transformation from villain to accidental-hero progressed it became clear that—although the intended genre for many films today is children—any age can benefit from the simple truths conveyed within movies such as this.

There were moments when (I’m sure) the audience would have loved to scream directions at the characters on the screen. During one sad scene I think (it might have been my imagination) I heard an “awww” or two. Yet by the end of the film the happy ending was securely in place and a sense of comfortable disorder was restored to the lives of the characters.

It was quite an eye-opening trip to the movies, and I offer my sincerest recommendation to any parents considering this film (you may just find yourself laughing right along with your children!). Live, Love, Laugh Everyone!!!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4
Anna Summers, age 18 (USA)
Positive—…the film is outstanding. It borrows from other animated films a bit, but the set design is unique, and it’s very humorous.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 3½
Mark BC, age 23 (USA)
Positive—I was more than surprised with what the minds and hearts behind “Despicable Me” offered once my brother, 12, and myself, 21, settled into our seats in the theater and the movie began. Certainly the first trailers offered only a few glimpses here and there as to what I could expect with a film about a second place villain longing to take first place in the world’s mind while trying to raise three little girls he adopts. There are a lot of great lessons that came up that resonate clearly with the themes throughout “Despicable Me”.

Gru feels that his main purpose, for most of his life, is to live up to certain standards, whether those that his mother has put on him, from his new archnemisis Vector, or else from three girls who have expectations about what a parent should be for them. For Gru, pleasing only himself becomes a hollow goal in trying to achieve world status through recognition as “the man who stole the moon”.

Margo, Edith, and Agnes have found a place in his heart and he has the hard decision of letting go of them back to the orphanage or else letting go the chance of a lifetime to steal the moon. Jesus said as much that what should a person gain the whole world just to lose his soul for it? While Gru does learn from this, his enemy Vector has nothing in the end for his selfish actions. There are themes about sacrifice about what it takes to be a parent for Gru. When he first adopts them, it’s only to fulfill his needs. The longer they stay with him, the more he sees that they are dependant on him to be a good role model and a good father figure.

The eldest girl Margo is cynical and skeptical at the beginning about Gru because he’s just what she expects, irresponsible, indifferent, and distant in how he cares for them, and has a difficult time living with him. The youngest Agnes sees the good in Gru and knows that deep down he’s really not as despicable or heartless as he might try to appear in people’s eyes. I was very pleased to see this movie and my brother enjoyed it just as much as I did.

There’s a lot of great humor from the characters. Steve Carell was an excellent choice for the role of Gru. The three girls were also well developed in their relationship with Gru. The minions do tend to take the spotlight a few times more than other characters but that can’t be helped as you can’t help but want to see what they’ll do next around each other and around the main characters.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4
Caroline, age 21 (USA)
Positive—My best friend and I took our daughters today (6 and 8 years old). We all enjoyed it very much! I think we grown ups might have laughed more than the kids! I can’t stand watching cartoons more than once, but I think this one would be an exception! Very, very funny. I am very picky about what we allow our daughter to watch, and I did not find anything objectionable regarding our faith or Jesus.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Lori, age 40 (USA)
Positive—A charming film for the kids, with enough clever art direction to keep the adults smiling.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4
Rigs, age 45 (Canada)
Positive—I saw this movie in 3D with my family. I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of story and had barely seen any promotional material. The beginning was interesting enough to keep me watching, and if memory serves, I had a few chuckles in the first few minutes. The exposition was well-timed with good pacing.

A couple of parts that raised my eyebrow were: a) Gru’s motivation and interview to adopt the orphans… It was just so, well, awkward (although probably intentionally). And b) when the girls started to pray. I am not accustomed to communication with God presented in cinema without mocking or the impression that it is useless.

In summation, definitely not the worst way to relax for two hours. And my favorite part: “I said DART gun, not… ugh!”
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 5
Kyle, age 22 (USA)
Positive—Other than one joke involving bare-bottomed minions (which I thought was funny, but other people might find offensive), this was a very clean family film. It made me laugh A LOT, and it melted my heart. I considered it good enough to see twice! I hope this new animated film studio keeps up the good work!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 5
Kadie Joseph, age 18 (USA)
Positive—I saw “Despicable Me” three times, once with my little sister in 3D, once with my parents AND little sister, and once with my 9 year old nephew. Artistically, this movie has it where it counts: superb animation, top-quality voice-acting (especially from Steve Carrell), and good 3D conversion.

Morally, the film had a couple slight objections. One, a certain scene uses a little girl’s innocence to make you feel sympathetic for the main character, but the sympathy is a sympathy that he can’t commit a certain crime. Language was very clean: the most offensive thing said was “Oh poop.” Very good movie, highly recommended!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Joseph Yates, age 18 (USA)
Positive—This was one of those rare movies that had me very skeptical in the beginning, then the movie completely grew and changed, and I have to admit, by the end I was in tears! It started out very dark, and with things God’s nature is firmly opposed to, like evil and stealing. But, there are people like this in our world, and these people can also be changed and get saved.

This isn’t a Christian movie but it definitely shows how children have the power to get inside our hearts and change us from the inside out. Like I think God can bring people into our lives, and when we are a little bit hard, they can warm us up and make us laugh and bring us real joy. It might start you out wondering, but it will leave you laughing with joy! Especially those with young kids will find this story heartwarming.

It shows how love changes people and the innocent unconditional love of a child. It does have some bits of potty and dark humor so if you are super uptight, which I am usually, you might not enjoy this one with your kids, but I really let go with this movie! It was great! I loved it!!

My husband also loved it and thought it was hilarious! Can’t wait to see it again!! (Some reviewers said it didn’t show any consequences to wrong behavior, but I think even more it showed the power of a change of character/repentance and what forgiveness can do in the heart of anyone.That is what keeps us from going back to the bad behavior!)
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Michelle, age 35 (USA)
Positive—LOOKING for a GOOD family film, then look NO longer; we rented this movie last week, and we had a blast watching it. But I would watchout with kids who are addopted, because part of the movie is about 3 little girls who are orphans, but, other than that, great movie. One of the girls even remided me of my own kid brother.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Excellent! / Moviemaking quality: 4½
cdruulles, age 21 (USA)
Positive—I can’t begin to tell you how much I was not looking forward to watching this movie with my siblings, but when we rented it, I LOVED it so much we watched it 3 times, before we had to take it back to the store. I really fell in love with the 3 girls, who I thought would bother me, but, no, I loved them…
My Ratings: Moral rating: Excellent! / Moviemaking quality: 5
Dr Peper Man, age 22 (USA)
Positive—This was such a cute movie! I couldn’t find much offensive about “Despicable Me;” it was clean, cute, funny and heart warming. It’s pretty rare to find a film without any profanities, or sexual references. The violence was mild and innocent—for humor. I recommend this movie for ages 5 and up. It’s even entertaining for teens and adults.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Luna, age 26 (United Kingdom)
Neutral
Neutral—I really like this movie. It is laugh-out-loud funny with several “Awwwww” moments, and it also has a good overall message (“crime doesn’t pay”). However, while I feel that it is appropriate for most school-aged children, be forewarned that it has some body/potty humor, as well as animated rear nudity (statues and one of the yellow minions). It may also be scary for some children (“man-eating” sharks, missiles, perilous situations, etc.) and even traumatizing for others: the orphanage in which the three little girls live has a “Box of Shame” that children who don’t sell enough cookies must stay in.

I would compare this movie to “Monsters vs. Aliens,” with similar kinds of humor and numbers of scary situations (although I liked this movie much more). If you’re not comfortable with your child seeing off-color humor, “Up” and “Wall-E” offer cleaner alternatives.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Sarah C., age 20 (USA)
Neutral—While being kind of cute, this movie encourages the kids to be bad, even evil. It never showing the consequences of evil actions. Not a great movie for kids. Teaches negative values.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
Robot Betty, age 20
Negative
Negative—“Despicable Me” is a big hilarious hit, but what is the spiritual undertone? What lessons is it teaching our youth? Many good movies are some version of the savior protagonist with easy parallels to Christ. Unfortunately, this movie is not one of them.

Instead of a positive protagonist, the main character Gru is a depiction of a very dark but likable person “who delights in all things wicked.” He controls a simple minded, immortal, non-human army to more easily justify his dominating and evil treatment of them. They are even called Minions. The core message is the same as Luciferianism who’s actual symbols can be found throughout this movie if you look for them. These lessons are: parents are bad, your knowledge is all you need, love thy neighbor is a joke, and ultimately single parents can be controlled by their kids. Please be warry of anything “Illuminate Entertainment” puts out if you care about how your kids think about Christianity and evil.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
Jared, age 39 (USA)
Negative—The movie tries to have heart warming themes, but the undertones are basically this: a criminal adopts three little girls for his own selfish ends. He is cruel and mean, and the little girls “change” him. This is teaching girls that it doesn’t matter how self-centered or cruel a man is; you can change him.

They also make a lot of references to dead things and dead people. A little dog that should be cute and fluffy is mean with sharp teeth, and is made to look “cute”—everything is so twisted. The opponent Vector, also, has a mug that says “I love Evil.” These are subliminal messages being sent to your children. Some parts were funny, but I definitely would not recommend it for children.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 2
Vicky, age 35 (USA)
Negative—I do not think this is a remarkable movie. Morally, I didn’t like it. Gru never stops being a villan. He just starts liking the children, that is all. Humor is used to make you laugh at wrong behaviour (e.g., when Gru parks his vehicle on the street, or when the children collaborate to lie to the inspector in one of the bonus movies to pretent Gru is home, when he is not).

There is room for displaying wrong behaviour in documentaries and historical movies. But not as an ingredient for humor. Not to make people laugh about it.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
JM, age 45 (Netherlands)
Positive—When JM’s comment says that Gru never stopped being a villain, that is not true. He specifically says that the girls “changed his heart,” not just that he likes them. And if you watch the second movie, you find that he DID stop being a villain. And, in fact (in the sequel), he joins forces with the law to help fight evil. People could easily watch this movie and misunderstand it, thinking it is glamorizing crime. I get that. It could have done a better job on that note. However, in the end, it is an outstanding reminder that no matter how smart, rich, or determined you are, God can stop you from sinning. Kind of like the Tower of Babel.

The whole “despicable me” thing is actually very thought-provoking. The positive messages are touching; the film takes them seriously. But, in addition to these things, the movie is a reasonably clean laugh-fest for all ages!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 5
Gabriel Mohler, age 25 (USA)
Negative—It is a cute movie and does have some very cute story line. It definitely keeps your attention. The first time I watched it. I did not notice this, but, this time watching it, I noticed several bad things in it. The one that is the most shocking to me was the part when the Dr. was on the control talking, when GRU was going up in space, and he said, “Now commencing lord Satan”… I even rewound it and listened again…

I do not want my family watching this kind of thing. It puts all the Illuminati symbolisms into perspective now, too, as they worship Satan as their lord. I will not promote any movie that has Satan in it or the love of evil. There was a mug that said, I love evil, also.

So even though this movie had many cute things in it and made us laugh and giggle a lot. I am very displeased with what it represents and who and what is funding it.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 5
April Ashley, age 42 (USA)
Comments from young people
Positive—I saw this movie with my friend Eric, and my mom and his mom. This movie was in 3D… the people were laughing in the parts that we were laughing too. The language part in the movie. It was the dimension 3D that would more distract younger kids. The badest actor—Russel Brand—was kind of the 3D movie that people would really enjoy. And besides, people would like this movie in 3D. This movie was good; I liked how they created the movie.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Justin, age 8 (USA)
Positive—I went to this movie with my younger sister and father, hoping it’d be better than newest “Shrek…” but not as good as “How to Train Your Dragon”—a happy middle from the guys at Dreamworks. We got exactly what we wanted, if not even better. Apart from the occasional potty joke, the humor had my dad, sister, the rest of the theater and I laughing till we cried, all while remaining fairly clean. There was little, if not any, bad language, and the little girls Gru adopts are just the sweetest things to hit the movies this year. The lesson of the film is simple: kids can change your life… and your heart, mostly for the better.

Gru lived a life of greed and villainy until the three little girls (he originally had intertwined with his plan to steal the moon) came into his life and turned it upside-down… or rightside-up, really. Bottom line is this is a movie worth bringing your kids to, and heck, even a good parent’s night out movie. Although it’s a comedy, my dad was surly one to shed a tear or two at the warm-and-fuzzy ending that could be compared to Toy Story 3’s. Great, great movie!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Ruthie , age 14 (USA)
Positive—“Despicable Me” was a very good movie. It had great music, a lot of humor, and there was nothing offensive to God. It had a very good Christian moment where the three orphan girls were praying for Blessings. They never used the Lord’s name in vain, and, overall, it was a well directed movie. Everyone at the end was laughing and clapping, including me.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Jarred, age 11 (USA)
Neutral—“Despicable Me” is your basic, cutesie, and quite predictable family movie. I did chuckle a couple of times, but it is made clear that the movie is geared toward kids 8 and younger. No serious objectionable content I could find. Would I sit through this movie again? Probably not. I’m not saying it is a bad, poorly made film. Just too young for me… Am I being despicable?
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 3½
Emily, age 12 (USA)
Neutral—…when I walked into the theater of “Despicable Me,” I was expecting a really good animated movie for a few reasons.
1) I really like Steve Carell being a huge fan of “The Office,”
2) The story seemed original and
3) A lot of critics really liked it such as Roger Ebert and Peter Travers, so how could it be that bad? Well, to tell you the truth, I was extremely disappointed in this movie. For one, the whole movie was extremely predictable, and they showed all the funny parts in the commercials, as they usually do in animated movies and at the end of the film, I felt like I’ve seen half the movie already.

As far as objectionable content goes, there wasn’t anything objectionable in this movies. The villains were goofy and the language was very minimal, nothing really objectionable.

I don’t really have anything else to say about this movie except don’t waste your money on this and just rent on video if you really want to see it. To see a good family film go see “Toy Story 3.”
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 2½
Langston, age 12 (USA)
Positive—In my honest opinion, this was my second favorite movie this summer! I reccomend this movie to kids ages 4-9 and teens 13-15.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 5
Andrew, age 13 (USA)
Positive—This movie was a really good movie, and it showed the power that love can have between a step father and 3 little girls. I see nothing wrong with bringing your little 5 year olds and older kids to see this movie, because there is nothing offensive in it. I personally think that there should not be one single negative comment for this movie. There was a lot of good humour in it, and it never got boring, and therefore I am giving it 4½ rating.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Excellent! / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Adalaine, age 13 (Canada)
Neutral—I watched this movie just recently and found that it was a quite enjoyable film! From what I heard there were no swear words or Lord’s Name in vain, very mild violence and themes. There were a few “toilet humor” moments though (the minions taking rude photos on the copy machine) that spoiled the atmosphere of the film. But all in all, an enjoyable comedy!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 3½
Jess, age 17 (Australia)
Positive—I watched movie with my parents and siblings who are 18, 11 and 2. We ALL loved it! This movie is cute and funny and heartwarming. The minions were by far my favorite characters! There was a few “Bathroom Humor” jokes in, but they made my family laugh!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Meg, age 15 (USA)
Positive—This movie is a fun-filled movie. I watched it with my brothers and sisters, and they loved it! We laughed all through out the movie. There is a bit of potty humor. I encourage you to watch it. It will make you laugh!! The whole family will love it and want to watch it again! Enjoy!!
My Ratings: Moral rating: none / Moviemaking quality: 5
Lily, age 15 (USA)
Positive—It seems that, lately, almost every kid or family movie is characterized by an abundance of rude humor and/or a shallow, “believe in yourself” moral. “Despicable Me” is refreshingly different! I watched this with my friend, and I was struck by how deep the moral message got. Gru tried to be the “best villain,” because his Mom had neglected him as a child,, and he was really only searching for love, admiration, and acceptance, which is what he got when he loved and accepted the little girls.

Morally, there is very little that is offensive. A few potty-style jokes that are thankfully very minimum, and the one scene with the bottom-scanning minions, which had absolutely nothing to do with the movie and was a bit unsettling to me. Overall, however, I’d like to say to Hollywood: “Please make more movies like ‘Despicable Me’!”
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Hannah A., age 17 (USA)
Positive—I loved “Despicable Me,” it was a clean film, and I found it very funny. It’s about bad vs.bad, and, as they say, he’s a super dad, and he is super bad. The movie is heart warming and a good film to watch.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Hannah, age 11 (Australia)
Neutral—I do like the whole premise of the movie, however, I can’t ignore the inappropriate parts. For example, the copier scene, or the f___ gun (rhymes with dart). It can be a good movie for kids, IF you know when the bad parts are coming up, so you can skip through them.

It makes me very sad to see society getting so used to inappropriate humor that even Christians think it’s funny.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Bekah, age 15