Despicable Me 2 Movie Review
Not really as good as the first, but worth seeing.
I am a fan of the first Despicable Me. I love villains, and find hope for myself in stories where the bad guy finds redemption. Gru is awesome, and his many minions rule (Minions poster image courtesy of the Movie T Shirt category).
So all that being said, Despicable Me 2 was good but is just lacked the solidity of the first movie. I am having a hard time putting my finger on it. I think that without the redemption story it just doesn’t hold up as strongly. Gru just doesn’t have the pull as a good guy. His appeal is the evil guy turning good. Gru is fully reformed and suffers no real inner conflict that so colored the first film. Instead of his minions jumping to execute his evil plans they are cleaning the house in a French maids outfit and making jelly. His mother isn’t even in this film (except during the credits. I guess they didn’t want to spring for Julia Andrews to do the voice in this one). Kristin Wiig was of course brilliant as Lucy, the love interest, but aside from giving Gru something to fight for there was no real drama in the romance. She was into him from the get go and all he had to do was decide to ask her out.
Overall this film had a lot more style than substance. The minions were still cute and funny, and the three little girls still had the cute humanizing effect of the first film. However, the film focuses on making the minions even cuter and funnier (the ice cream social is the perfect example of this) while not letting Gru get his dark and sinister side out. The romance might appeal to more little girls but the boys in the audience might find it pretty dull.
Look at me, treating a kids movie like Citizen Kane. I swear I’m not this pretentious most of the time. It was a fun show and if you like the minions you will not be disappointed. In spite of the fact that I was seeing a 10:15pm showing the audience was full of little kids (most parents suck) and they seemed to be enjoying the hell out of it, which is really my only barometer for kids movies. My only disappointment stems from the first movie so overreaching my expectations and my hope that this one would do the same.
The film starts off with a giant flying magnet stealing a Russian research base out of the Arctic. We jump to Gru (Steve Carrol-the Office, Crazy, Stupid Love, the 40 Year Old Virgin) living in his suburban death fortress with his three adopted daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove-School of Rock, Drake & Josh, the Good Wife), Edith (Dana Gaier-not much else. An episode of 30 Rock. I hope she gets more work soon), and Agness (Elsie Kate Fisher-Vertical, Bad Behavior, Dirty Girl). While out walking his “dog” he is Tazered and loaded into a trunk by Lucy (Kristin Wiig-Bridesmaids, How to Train Your Dragon, SNL). Turns out she is an agent for the Anti Villain League, a secret organization that fights super villains. She takes him to meet the head of the League Mr. Ramsbottom (uncredited on IMDB. Get on it, guys!).
They want Gru to help them find the villain with the giant magnet who stole a super secret formula. Gru refuses and heads home. There he finds his old friend Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand-Rock of Ages, Arthur, Get Him to the Greek) wants to get back into the evil business and has taken a job with another villain. They send him off with a 21 fart gun salute (see what I mean about style over substance?).
Gru decides to link up with the AVL just to keep his hand in and is teamed up with Lucy. They are set up with a fake bake shop in a mall where the villain is suspected of setting up shop. Gru suspects a Mexican restaurant owner named Eduardo (Benjamin Bratt-Miss Congeniality, Catwoman, Demolition Man) but all evidence points towards a wig shop owner (Ken Jeong-the Hangover, Transformers Dark of the Moon, Community). Meanwhile Margo falls in love with Eduardo’s son Antonio (Moises Arias-Nacho Libre, Hannah Montana, the Secret World of Arrietty).
The movie trucks along from there. Gru discovers he has feelings for Lucy and needs to rescue her from the evil villain. The minions are all transformed into evil(er) purple guys. No real major surprises crop up, although there weren’t really any in the first film.
I don’t do stars and black holes for kids movies. This kids in the audience were enjoying it, and the parents didn’t seem bored stupid(er). By those definitions this film was a great success and I did enjoy it. I was hoping for something more along the lines of the first film, but even without that it was worth seeing. I guess I’m am saying go see it if this is your cup of tea. Date movie? Sure, no problem there. Try to show her the first one so she knows what is up with the minions as they are the cutest part of the film. Bathroom break? The big Cinco de Mayo party doesn’t seem to have a lot going on for the first couple minutes so do it then. Hurry back as the scene right afterwards is kind of critical story-wise.
Thanks for reading. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu. If you have comments on this film or my review leave them here, and if you have off topic questions or suggestions feel free to email me at [email protected]. I’m seeing the Lone Ranger and kind of expect it to suck, so look for a much more vitriol infused review tomorrow. Talk to you soon.
Dave
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