“Despicable Me’’ is an oddity but an entertaining one. Its villainous cartoon hero, Gru, has a broad, bulbous body atop two pipe-cleaner legs. His head suggests an egg with a stork’s beak poking through from the inside. He speaks in a ripe accent that’s roughly triangulated by Russia, Germany, and the Borscht Belt; if the ads didn’t say it was Steve Carell doing the talking, you’d never know.
The decision to hang a 3-D animated family film on this character is one of the mysteries of the season. Perhaps the filmmakers thought that if audiences like stinky green ogres so much they’d go for an amusing fusion of Boris Badenov and Dr. Evil. Luckily, “Despicable Me’’ has enough visual novelty and high spirits to keep the kiddies diverted and just enough wit to placate the parents.
