Hey parents! Let’s play a little game.
The game is simple-GUESS THE MOVIE FROM THE LINE.
“Aw, my caterpillar didn’t turn into a butterfly.”
OR
“It’s so fluffy, I’m gonna die!”
Anything? Okay let’s do the easiest
“We are going to pull of the TRUE crime of the century… we are going to steal the MOON!”
Oh come on! I am sure you must have guessed the movie by now if you are a minion fan. Yes, we are talking about the 2010 animated movie Despicable Me.
It is a movie about a villain Gru who has no qualms acting evil and mean to everyone around him, wishes to stealing everything and anything big or small to become famous as the most dreaded villain on T.V and how he turns into a softie, sensitive hero for his ‘adopted with ulterior motives’ girls. The icing on the cake are everyone’s favourite Minions! Bello!
But today, we are going to place this father –daughter relationship between Gru and Margo, Edith, Agnes under the spotlight and learn a thing or two from it. Brace yourself:
- The girls broke his shell
The supervillain Gru has a troubled past with an indifferent mother who never appreciated him or his ambitions.
Gru: Hey, Mom, someday i’ll go to the moon too.
Gru’s Mom: I’m afraid that’s not possible son, NASA is not sending monkeys anymore.
Due to the wounds of his past, he is unable to love the three girls initially and adopts them with the sole motive of using them as a part of his master plan to shrink the moon and steal it. He brings them home and strictly instructs them to follow rules.
Gru: “Okay, rule number one: You will not bother me while I’m working. Rule number two, you will not cry, or whine, or laugh, or giggle, or sneeze, or burp, or fart. So, no, no annoying sounds. All right?
Agnes: Does this count as annoying? *makes annoying noise*
Gru: *stops Agnes* Very.
However, as the movie progresses, it conveys a beautiful message that no matter how bad the wounds of the past may be or how cold a heart they made, there is always a room of warmth in it. From being non-interested in parenting the girls, he begins going for their ballet class and even keeps the ticket for their show given by Agnes safely. He takes them to a carnival and gets little Agnes her ‘fluffy unicorn’. In fact, he buys them so many toys and ice-cream on the way back home because Margo called him ‘awesome!’. The little girl gave her father the long due appreciation/kind word that he was seeking since his own childhood. Gru’s heart grew three sizes, so to speak, because of the three girls that won him over.
- The bedtime story routine: The little girls coax a reluctant Gru to tell them the Puppet-3 kitten story which he finds quite crappy but tells anyway for the girls. As he speaks whining, the girls slip into a sleep but when Gru tried to leave them, they ask for a goodnight kiss from their father. An embarrassed and trying hard not to melt Gru declines. However, as she moves out we see him smiling and happy seeing how his family chart is has 3 new additions painted by the little girls. We already see him melting! That is what daughters do to fathers indeed.
- Daughters to the rescue: I’ve observed that most times, if a father is hurting, the sensitive daughter rushes to his rescue with whatever she has-a bandaid or sweet kisses. In the movie too, when Gru is denied a loan by the bank to carry out his heist, the three little girls get their piggy bank to fund his mission. A dejected Gru suddenly feels so confident about his mission that he decided to self-fund his mission and not shelve it. Sometimes, children can also restore their parent’s confidence. Honestly, before this scene, I was expecting and angry Gru lashing out at the girls as he faltered asking for a loan because his daughters doodled on his worksheets and messed up his presentation but he didn’t. A total change of heart!
- Leaving his daughters: When Dr. Nefario sends the girls back to the orphanage fearing them as Gru’s distractions, a sad Gru is unable to focus anywhere. He doesn’t eat properly and misses the girls. He has second thoughts about doing the heist on the same day as the girl’s ballet recital. The viewers clearly see that his sensitive, fatherly side has taken over his selfish, villainous side. The girls did their magic and became his priority!
- A happy-big family: After stealing the moon as Gru celebrates in space, he is pulled back to see the ticket to his daughter’s recital. He rushes back to the Earth to make it in time for his waiting daughters only to find them kidnapped by Vector. The wrath of a father is clearly seen as Gru rescues the girls from Vector endangering his own life. He asks them to ‘trust him and that he will catch them no matter what and never let them go again’ This part strongly conveys the understated love of fathers and does get audiences weeping. That night as all four come home, Gru willingly tells them a bedtime story of a Unicorn written by him:
“One big unicorn, strong and free, thought he was happy as he could be.
Then three little kittens came around and turned his whole life upside down.
They made him laugh, they made him cryHe never should have said goodbye.
And now he knows he can never part from those three little kittens that changed his heart”
He kisses ‘his girls’ goodnight only to receive ‘I love you dad’ in return. Tears of joy!
P.S. A cute daddy Gru kisses his minions too. Awwdorable!
- A happy ending: In the end, as we see the girls perform ballet while their father watches in the audience with his own mother, Gru finally gets the long-awaited affirmation from his mother when she congratulates him for being a better parent to the girls than she ever was to him. And guess what? The entire family dances off to the minion’s beats!
The movie is a treat for any father-daughter duo to learn from and enjoy. As the three girls woke Gru’s conscience and soul, it made audiences sure that daughters are undoubtedly little angels who can change a father’s supposed rough side into a soft one with their unconditional love.
So dear dads, if you haven’t watched Despicable Me with your preschooler daughter, you got to watch it now. Poopaye!