During a press junket for Despicable Me, I got to sit down with 9 other talented bloggers at a blogging round table at The Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel and interview lead vocal talent that included Miranda Cosgrove, Jason Segel, Steve Carell, and Julie Andrews.

Before the junket, I took my boys to see a special screening of this wickedly fun-filled movie by Universal Studios that opens July 9th.

At the heart of the plot is Gru, a curmudgeonly megalomaniac that is willing to go to great lengths to save his quickly-declining status as a super-villain. With a physical look that would make Edward Gorey feel at home, Gru is a lovable character that grows quickly on the audience, due in no small part to his charmingly weird, Russian-like accent voiced by the immensely likable Steve Carell.

When new rival villain Vector (who will remind you a bit of a young, empire-building Bill Gates that is armed with cutting-edge tech-toys and weapons with an odd aquatic-life theme like 'The Squid Gun') sweeps in and steals the Great Pyramid along with threatening his standing as premier super-villain and his funding for other dastardly plots, Gru decides that he needs to commit the most villainous plan the world has ever seen: Build a rocket, get a Shrink Ray Gun and use it to shrink and then steal the moon.

But like all good tales, his dastardly plan hits many bumps in the road and in order to realize his plans, he must carry out his plans with his trusty army of yellow "minions" (adorable, google-eyed marshmallow-esque creatures that are voiced, in part, by Jemain Clement of Flight of the Conchords fame along with the directors of the movie) and he also adopts three lovable orphans that are selling cookies for their orphanage. Responsible Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), tough little Edith (Dana Gaier) and utterly ADORABLE Agnes (Elsie Fisher) will melt your heart with their sad existence at Miss Hattie's Home for Girls (Kristen Wiig does a fabulous job voicing the surface-sweet Miss Hattie, who is the true villain of the show).

With the exception of Miss Hattie, all the "villains" in this movie are shown to have many layers and facets underneath their evil exteriors. Gru is humanized by scenes from his childhood and we realize his entire motivation is life is to impress his difficult-to-please mother (played brilliantly and against type by the legendary Julie Andrews). We get to see a bit of understanding in Gru's rival in stealing the moon, Vector (Jason Segel), and even Gru's 'despicable' mother gets a touch of humanity at the end.

I sat down with producer Chris Meledandri, (former Fox Animation president and executive producer of the Ice Age and Horton Hears a Hoo ) and he shared one of his favorite moments from the film, when Gru reads a bed time story (Sleepy Kittens, which is an actual book (YAY!) and is available at Amazon.com) to his new daughters and he finally goes from "being very stand-offish until can't resist the role of father anymore. And as a father who has now read to 2 boys and knowing there are so many nights where read and you go, 'Oh, my god, this book' and you see him losing his battle to stay distant and watching that happen during the course of that scene, I find it touching every single time I watch the movie."

(I do, too.)

Even though Despicable Me is loaded with hints of other children's movies like Shrek, Ratatouille, and Monsters Inc., this movie still feels original, fresh and is just a ton of fun and delight for kids and adults alike. While it may not have the same take-away as some films, it is a throughly delightful, funny and touching way to spend your time.

Tune in tomorrow when I'll post about sitting down with the lead vocal talent from Despicable Me and find out just which one of them playfully hit on me during the interview. (HINT: It was not Julie Andrews. Heh.)

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