Theme: Despicable Me

In Despicable Me, Vector and Gru are adversaries, trying to outdo one another with their villainous schemes.

 adversary  an enemy, opponent

Vector’s annoying habits and generally idiotic inventions manage to alienate even those close to him such as his father.

 alienate  to turn away; to make indifferent or hostile; to transfer, convey

The cookie robots are a clever artifice devised by Gru and built by Dr. Nefario to infiltrate Vector’s compound.

 artifice  a skillful or ingenious device, a clever trick, a clever skill; trickery

In an attempt to coerce the orphan girls into selling cookies, Miss Hattie threatens to put them in the “Box of Shame” if they fail.

 coerce  to compel, force

When we went to see Despicable Me in the theater, my niece displayed shamefully craven behavior when she jumped in my lap and hid her face at the appearance of the shark.

 craven  cowardly; a coward

Gru shows little culinary skill when he first brings the girls home, offering them candy in a dog dish as their dinner.

 culinary  of or related to cooking or the kitchen

Agnes is incredibly upset at the untimely demise of her unicorn, demanding a replacement.

 demise  a death, especially of a person in a lofty position

The girls and Gru find the roller coaster ride exhilarating.

 exhilarate  to enliven, cheer, give spirit or liveliness to

Gru’s house is so imposing and desolate that there is nothing but fallow land around it.

 fallow  plowed but not seeded; inactive; reddish- yellow, land left unseeded; to plow but not seed

The Minions are constantly harassing one another throughout the movie, acting like annoying children.

 harass  to disturb, worry; trouble by repeated attacks

Gru’s initially inclement attitude towards everyone changes when he adopts the girls.

 inclement  stormy, harsh; severe in attitude or action

When Gru tells the Minions that he might have to liquidate their entire operations since they could not get a bank loan, they offer their own money to help build the rocket.

 liquidate  To pay a debt, settle an account; to eliminate

Agnes frequently muses over what it would be like to have parents.

 muse  to think about in a dreamy way, ponder

Gru repeatedly tells the Minions to listen quietly, but the effect is negligible.

 negligible  so unimportant that it can be disregarded

Gru believes that if he can just steal the moon, he will perpetuate his status as a great villain.

 perpetuate  to make permanent or long lasting

When Gru kisses the girls goodnight, he sets a precedent that the Minions expect to be followed.

 precedent  an example that may serve as a basis for intimation or later action

As a punitive measure for freezing his head, Vector steals the shrink ray from Gru and prevents him from getting it back.

 punitive  inflicting or aiming at punishment

When Agnes’s unicorn is accidentally destroyed, the Minions attempt to redress the situation by making her a new one..

 redress  to set right, remedy; relief from wrong or injury

Gru and the girls enjoy a brief sojourn at an amusement park, where he manages to win a giant fluffy unicorn.

 sojourn  a temporary stay; to stay for a time

The Minions disguise themselves in their visit to the supermarket as a mom, a baby and a man urbanely dressed in a hat and tie.

 urbane  refined in manner or style