Title:  Despicable Me
Format:  Movie theater
Date Seen:  July 15, 2010
Category:  Family/Animated
Rating:  A

Description (from imdb.com):  In a happy suburban neighborhood sits a black house with a dead lawn. Hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru, planning the biggest heist in the history of the world, armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air. 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, Edith and Agnes.

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I want a minion!  They are so ridiculously adorable.  This movie probably wouldn't have been anywhere near as good, if they had left out the minions.

The movie was so cute, and the storyline was really good too.  The villain's back story was well-done too.  Usually, in animated family movies, there's never any background on the villain.  You're just supposed to accept the fact that he's bad, and he's always been that way.  This time, they provided a look at what makes Gru tick.  And you actually end up sympathizing with him.  The movie's other villain, the real bad guy of the story, was incredibly funny.  As was the dialogue.  Which was surprising, because a lot of family movies have a hard time balancing their dialogue between kids and their parents.  You either get very childish humor that makes the parents cringe over the sappiness.  Or you get innuendo and crude jokes.  This movie didn't have either.  The dialogue was entertaining for both children and adults without the innuendo or baby-talk.  Here are some examples of the stuff that made me laugh:

Gru:  Do you speak Spanish?

Miss Hattie:  Do I look like someone who speaks Spanish?

Gru:  It's just that your face is so... Como es burro.

Miss Hattie:  Oh!  Why, thank you!

Gru:  Your dog has  been leaving bombs in my yard.

Fred:  Oh, you know dogs... they go where they want!

Gru:  Not if they're dead.

Little Gru:  Someday, I'm going to the moon.

Gru's Mom:  I'm afraid you're too late, Gru.  NASA is no longer sending up the monkeys.

Agnes:  Aw.  My caterpillar never turned into a butterfly.

Edith:  That's a Cheeto.

Agnes:  Oh.  *Eats it*

Edith:  When we got adopted by a bald guy, I thought this'd be more like Annie.

Agnes:  Will you read us a bedtime story?

Gru:  No.

Agnes:  Pretty please?

Gru:  The physical appearance of the please makes no difference.

So funny!  And those are only a few of the quotes I loved from this movie.  I would definitely recommend this to all kids, and to anyone who likes to laugh.  A