If you’ve already seen the big three of the summer so far – Man of Steel, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Iron Man Three – and are hoping to stay away from what may or may not be a disastrous revamp of the legendary Lone Ranger this weekend, the 3D CGI animated sequel to 2010’s Despicable Me might be right for you. Join me after the jump for a look at Despicable Me 2.
In the first installment of this story, we met Gru, voiced by Steve Carell, the mad super scientist with the Slavic accent whose plot to steal the moon was constantly being diverted by a new upstart villain, and the three little girls who were looking for a dad. Despicable Me was funny, heartwarming, and chockfull of lots of winks and nudges for those of us familiar with the genre. It was similar to, but in my opinion, superior to closely themed Megamind. I dug the movie a lot.
I did not dig his Minions at all. The kids love them. So when the marketing campaign for Despicable Me 2 began quickly after the release of the first one, and heavily utilizing the annoying yellow Minions in its advertising, I got tired very quickly. It’s notable that they were never so annoying that I did not want to see the movie. The writers this time out however seemed to get that some folks didn’t ‘loooove’ the Minions, and in the sequel, and given us something to cheer for. No spoilers, so that’s all I’ll say.
In 2, Gru is living happily with his three girls when he’s approached (kidnapped is more like it) by Lucy Wilde, agent of the Anti-Villain League, voiced by Kristin Whig. Nice to know super-villainy does not go unchecked in this world, and also nice to know the creators are still building this world. It’s the old tactic of use a villain to catch a villain, and the story moves on from there, and just gets better.
I liked this movie a lot. Like the first one, it was fun, smart, and twisted, as well as having its heart in the right place. I even warmed up to the Minions a bit. They have their own movie coming out in December – jury is still out if I’ll see that though. *wink*
At first, the trailers for the film looked to be one of those where we saw the whole movie already. I’m happy to say that’s not the case, and the scenes that look like we have seen all of them, there’s more. A movie that continues to surprise is always a treat, and that’s what Despicable Me 2 is, a treat. So, if you made the mistake of seeing The Lone Ranger this weekend, let me offer you an after dinner mint to wash that mess from your mind, it’s called Despicable Me 2. Enjoy.
