Despicable Me stars the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Will Arnett, Danny McBride, Jack McBrayer, and Julie Andrews.

The film follows Felonious Gru, a longtime supervillain who adopts three orphan girls to use as pawns in a villainous scheme but reluctantly develops an emotional attachment to them.

Development of Despicable Me began when Pablos pitched the idea about a main character having villainous attributes and brought the concept to Meledandri following Illumination's foundation in 2007, with Paul and Daurio writing the script.

Meanwhile, Nefario and the Minions discover that the shrink ray's effects are temporary; the bigger an object's mass, the faster it reverts to its original size.

Gru, Nefario, and the Minions manage to rescue the girls before the Moon returns to its normal size and launches itself into orbit, destroying Vector's aircraft and leaving him stranded.

[5] To develop Despicable Me (under the working title Evil Me), Spanish animator Sergio Pablos pitched the idea about a main character having villainous attributes.

[18][19] After being upset at recognizing Gru's behavior early in the production, which could become stale with audiences, Meledandri ordered the directors to lighten Despicable Me's tone.

Additional marketing partners for the film included Airheads, Church's Chicken, Hungry Jack's, Color Me Mine, American Express, Kodak, IHOP, and Best Buy.

[33] Physical copies contain behind-the-scenes featurettes; filmmaker commentaries; games;[34] and short films Home Makeover, Orientation Day, and Banana.

[38] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three stars out of four, saying the directors were skilled at "springing surprises" from the writers' "ingenious" screenplay.

[45] Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "Since villains so often steal the show in animation, Despicable Me smartly turns the whole operation over to megalomaniacal rogue Gru.

"[10] Robert Wilonsky of The Village Voice wrote, "The result is pleasant and diverting, if ultimately forgettable, and it's one of the rare instances in the recent history of 3-D's resurrection as The Savior of Cinema in which the technology doesn't dim the screen or distract the focus.

"[48] Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "Short, sweet-and-sour, and amusing rather than funny, Despicable Me can't help but be likable.

"[50] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "A whip-smart family movie that makes inventive use of the summer's ubiquitous 3-D technology is something worth cheering.

"[52] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "Despicable Me has enough visual novelty and high spirits to keep the kiddies diverted and just enough wit to placate the parents.

"[8] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "By taking the "heart" part just seriously enough, and in the nick of time, the movie saves itself from itself.

"[54] Kim Newman of Empire gave the film three stars out of five, saying, "It's no first-rank CGI cartoon, but shows how Pixar's quality over crass is inspiring the mid-list.

"[60] Bob Mondello of NPR gave the film an eight out of ten, saying, "It's all thoroughly adorable, and with an overlay that's nearly as odd as Carell's accent: Despicable Me looks a lot like other computer-animated pictures.

"[63] Steve Persall of the Tampa Bay Times gave the film a B, saying, "Directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud craft a fun stretch run, wrapping the story with warm, fuzzy funnies and nothing to suggest a sequel, which is probably wise.

Club gave the film a B, saying, "Until the creep + orphans = happy family formula starts demanding abrupt, unconvincing character mutations, Despicable Me is a giddy joy.

[122] Following the unexpected financial success of Despicable Me, Universal led to the development on a sequel,[123] intent on capitalizing the original's popularity through that film's extensive marketing campaign.