Good day world! This is Floraptor, here to talk about the true protagonist of the Despicable Me cinematic universe, Gru. This is a character essay, not a film review. Also, spoiler alert, but come on, if you haven’t seen Despicable Me, what are you doing?
Gru starts as a megalomaniac whose only interest is wreaking havoc on society. However, he is one of the few instances of being a likable jerk. Yes, he is the protagonist, but he does not have good intentions. And yet we still root for him.
This is where I should introduce the three orphan girls… it feels so wrong calling them “orphans”. These are Margo, Edith and Agnes. Margo is voiced by a teen actress while Edith and Agnes are voiced by child actresses. I’m saying this because I love how the casting crew got actual minors for these roles. They’re also given their own distinct personalities; Margo is down-to-earth, Edith is mischievous, Agnes is adorable.
Gru adopts the girls and they’re off to a bumpy start. Agnes is the only one who fully trusts him. However as Gru and the girls-- or as he pronounces it, gOrls --spend time together, he begins to realize that power is great, but family is better.
At one point in the movie, Gru gives the girls back to the orphanage, and they stop trusting him. This is where Vector comes in. You know him, you love him. It’s the orange jumpsuit, thick glasses Vector.
So Vector comes in and nabs the girls because he knows what they mean to Gru. Realizing the error in his ways, he goes back to rescue the girls and reconcile. Now I’m going to talk about one of the most suspenseful scenes in modern cinema. A better suspense scene than most of the MCU.
Vector has the girls and the shrunken moon in his airship. Gru’s own airship is closing in on Vector’s. The moon begins to grow a little, and the girls are panicking, but Vector is too focused on flying away from Gru to notice.
The moon flies off the cockpit and hits the glass where the girls are being held. The airship’s door is lowered and Gru apologizes for sending them back, and tells them to jump into his arms.
Edith and Agnes jump into his arms, but Margo is snatched by Vector, but the moon hits him which makes him lose his grip. Gru catches Margo mid-fall and Vector’s airship is destroyed by the growing moon.
The last we see of Vector is of him on the moon where it used to be, knowing he has limited time to live. He is presumed dead after that.
I also want to point out that this movie has a similar plot structure to All Dogs Go to Heaven.
Charlie the dog is a wanted criminal who gets away with everything scot-free, but one day he meets an orphan girl named Anne-Marie, who can talk to animals. Astonished by her ability, he uses her to get money, to the point where he actually admits it when she is nearby. Anne-Marie stops trusting Charlie, but then Carface takes her prisoner because he knows what she means to him. Charlie then risks his life for her, and Anne-Marie trusts Charlie once again.
Sounds familiar? I also can’t help but think of the horse stable scene in All Dogs to when Gru and the girls were visiting the carnival and Gru got a fluffy unicorn for Agnes.
I hope you enjoyed this essay, or at least learned something new or got something out of what I’ve explained in this essay. Leave your thoughts in the comments and I’ll be seeing you next time.
07 Apr 2021, 3:54 pm
