With the surprising heart and incredibly potent humor found in the first film (my review), Despicable Me 2 was one of my most anticipated animated films of the year. Thankfully, it largely entertains and rises up to the bar set by its predecessor.
Despicable Me 2 picks up after the events of the first film with Gru (Steve Carell), having given up on his life of crime, now in full-time father mode to Agnes (Elsie Fisher), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Margo (Miranda Cosgrove). However, things might change when he is approached by Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) and Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) of the Anti-Villain League, who need Gru to help them stop another villain who has stolen an entire secret research facility with a giant flying magnet. Deciding to help, Gru must discover who this mysterious villain is while struggling with his new role as protective father to three girls, and he might even find love along the way!
This film leaves me with a few disappointments. I am a bit saddened by the diminished role of the three girls here, especially by the lack of lines from Edith. As the middle child, she’s not the focus of the three; Gru is wary of Margo growing older and becoming interested in boys, which plays a significant part in the film, and Agnes as the youngest wants to have a mother, leaving Edith to only occasionally comment. If that seems like a lot, throw the girls trying to get Gru in the dating game and a plot involving Gru attempting to catch a villain into the mix as well, making this a short film with three significant plot points. I think the movie could have stood to be longer in order to fit all of these in without it feeling rushed (as it sometimes did); all of these are important to Gru’s character growth in the film, but it was sometimes too much. The final confrontation with the villain felt a little rushed as well, with the conflict resolving just a bit too quickly (and easily) for my liking.
All of these issues are forgiven, though, because, in spite of all of that, I had quite a bit of fun while watching. The humor present in the first film is back with a vengeance this time around, with the antics of the Minions being even funnier without it being too much of a good thing like Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow has been in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Kristen Wiig is a welcome new presence as Lucy, with her slightly off-kilter character bringing a lot of fun to the screen and allowing Carell as Gru the opportunity to have a new character to play jokes off of. The relationship between these two characters builds well, with the chemistry working out quite nicely. Elsie Fisher is back as Agnes, and, though you can hear in her slightly older voice that it has been a few years since the first film, she’s as adorable as always.
Despite my disappointments and thoughts on the film being a bit cramped, this film is just too much fun to hold its problems against it too harshly. My screening of the movie was packed with children, and, although I was a bit wary at first, it made my watching experience even better…there are few things better than hearing lots of kids having so much (appropriate) fun at the movies. The jokes are still hilarious, the characters are still lovable, the heart is still present, and the music by Pharrell Williams and Heitor Pereira is just as lively, making Despicable Me 2 a worthy sequel.
-Chad
Rating: 3.5 (out of 5)
MPAA: PG – for rude humor and mild action
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