You've devoted your life to plotting increasingly despicable schemes. You rule an army of pint sized "minions". You disarm your fellow coffee shop patrons with a futuristic freeze gun, all to avoid the dreaded Starbucks line. You've stolen the Statue of Liberty, although it's merely the Vegas replica.
At this stage of your life, what's left to conquer? What is an evil villain to do? Are there any mountains left unclimbed? Yes! There's so much more to life. So you plot to steal the moon... and conquer parenthood at the same time. (If you're going to be despicable and paternal, you might as well do them together.)
'Despicable Me' opens in theatres tomorrow evening. Who wouldn't love to watch a cartoon starring Steve Carell with an unconvincing Russian accent? Count me in, please!
Sometime this weekend, I'm heading back to the theatre with my two year old. We'll be reviewing 'Despicable Me', and deciding if it does adoption justice ( - as much as a cartoon about moon stealing and celebrated villany can, that is!)
The film opens tomorrow night, and I'm heading in optimistically, hoping this time Hollywood gets the adoption piece right. Already there are a few red flags: the commercials refer to the girls as being "inherited", while the film's website labels them "orphans" (which could be accurate, dependent on their history).
Given the storyline, I'm willing to offer the film the opportunity to redeem itself. What I love most about this movie, is that this time, the evil villain is the one adopting children. That's a lovely role reversal! (Usually it's the saintly unsuspecting parents who acquire demon children through adoption....)
I'm also quite pleased at the family's demographics. A single father, permitted to adopt a sibling group of three sisters? Wow, how delightfully progressive!
I wonder who did his homestudy, though.... honestly, if your current business venture is to steal the moon, are you really going to offer a safe, secure, permanent home to three young girls? (On a side note, do evil villains qualify for PAA? It might impact my future career options if they do...)
I'm looking forward to a light-hearted adoption story. Stay tuned to read if I'm over the moon for 'Despicable Me'.
