As we continue on this sequel and rebooted stocked summer we now arrive at the doorstep of the second animated comedic adventure to hit the big screens, Despicable Me 2, directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.
Finally settled into the groove that is fatherhood, Gru (Steve Carell) is living life as a retired villain by raising his three daughters while trying to start a jam/jelly business on the side. When a secret lab developing a serum that turns animals into rabid beasts gets stolen, the Anti-Villain League recruits Gru to go undercover in a mall in order to track down this new super villain. While operation save the planet is underway, Gru finds himself in a pickle as the girls want him to start dating just as he is paired up with the cute yet goofy AVL agent, Lucy (Kristen Wiig), that brought him onto the team in the first place.
Despicable Me 2 is another feel good feature that builds upon our love of the original while taking the sweetness up a notch as well. His three daughters are back to bring some childish fun to the table as clearly indicated in their first scene during Agnes’ unicorn/fairytale birthday party. From there we get to watch the former villain known as Gru slowly fall in love, causing many awkward encounters because, well, he and Lucy are socially awkward. Lastly, and this is my favorite part, we get more minions, and by more, I mean a lot more! Much like in the first film, the minions are the best part and generate laughs every chance they get. Their slapstick antics are taken up a notch and, for the adults, we even get a minion language rendition of “I swear” by made famous by All-4-One and John Michael Montgomery which, visually, was executed perfectly.
What I really liked about this jovial sequel, which you could easily watch without having seen the first, is that the villain, El Macho (Benjamin Bratt), wasn’t such a bad guy. In fact, he was actually really cool especially after you find out that he rides a great white shark out of an airplane with dynamite strapped to him headed towards the mouth of a volcano, it’s pretty sweet. I think it’s the fact that El Macho is such a likable guy that the filmmakers were able to appropriately balance the love story with the actual mission of catching a bad guy. There was never any sense of urgency so the film and its characters could move at their own pace until the climax.
In recent years, animated sequel/prequels have done a pretty good job of following up their beloved originals and Despicable Me 2 stays true to that trend. It’s fun, light hearted, cute and an overall joy to watch either by yourself, with friends or with your family. You’ll laugh out loud throughout and will forget all your worries for its 98 minute duration and that, my friends, is something to be admired.
Rating: If you loved the first one you are absolutely going to love this sequel (7.4/10)
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