Despicable Me (out now on Blu-ray and DVD) has the distinguishment of being the first animated movie about a super villain with a heart of gold that was released this year, the other is Megamind (currently still in theaters). I had a chance to watch both of them for a second time this week and couldn’t help but notice the similarities as both movies follow the exploits of a super villain whose newest scheme backfires and ends up turning them into heroes.

The villain-turned-hero of Despicable Me is Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) a bald genius of presumably European descent, who dreams of going to space and stealing the moon.  When the shrink ray he needs for the job is stolen by Vector (voiced by Jason Segal), a new, rival villain, he adopts three charmingly little girls to help him steal it back.  Because its an animated kids movie, Gru of course comes to love the children and eventually changes his ways in time to stop Vector.

Some of the best parts of Despicable Me comes from Gru’s Minions, an assortment of small, yellow, pill-shaped beings, who were presumably created to do Gru’s bidding.  The Minions comes in various sizes and personalities, and although they are mostly speaking gibberish they are always hilarious.

The villain-turned hero of Megamind is Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrel), a blue, bald genius of alien descent, who dreams of defeating his arch-nemesis, Metro Man (Brad Pitt).  When he finally gets his wish he realizes a super villain needs a super hero and sets out to create Titan (Jonah Hill).  Because its an animated kids movie Megamind comes to love Metrocity and reporter Roxanne Ritchie (voiced by Tina Fey) and eventually changes his ways in time to stop Titan.

Several of the best moments in Megamind come from Minion (voiced by David Cross), a talking fish who inhabits a robot shaped like a gorilla, who was created to help Megamind.  Megamind also had “brain bots” which come in all shapes and sizes and were created to do his bidding.

Amazingly both movies are very different from each other, despite their similar plots.  Where Megamind relies heavily on pop culture references, Despicable Me relies more on sight gags. But the main difference is the love stories at the center of each film.  Megamind is a love story between outcast Megamind and Roxanne, while Despicable Me is the story of the love between a man and his adopted daughters.

Both movies are great not only for kids, but for adults as well.  I highly recommend you add Despicable Me to your DVD library and that you go see Megamind while it’s still in theaters, if you haven’t yet.