THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Despicable Me has been looked at as one of 2010's biggest animated films for being a whole other ballgame in its style of storytelling. With its financial success of surpassing half a billion dollars at the box office, of its original $60 million budget, Illumination did not hesitate capitalizing on making their own franchise.
PLOT
Despicable Me 2 follows Felonius Gru start his new life as a father (adopting the sister trio of Margo, Edith & Agnes) and retired villain after stealing the moon only to return it due to being incapable of keeping it permanently. He now makes a living into his own personal business of producing jelly with his minions. Dr. Nefario however has chosen to quit for a more villainous offer elsewhere. Gru's life continues to change when he is recruited by the Anti Villain League's director, Silas Ramsbottom, to track down a new culprit whose recently stolen a secret laboratory containing a mutagen drug "PX-41". He joins AVL agent Lucy Wilde to be stationed at Paradise Mall where their front is a cupcake store. On the first day, Gru quickly suspects the culprit to be Eduardo Perez as he resembles an old villain nicknamed El Macho, who had an extravagant suicide by riding into a volcano with dynamite and a shark strapped to him. When they break into his Mexican themed restaurant at night, they don't find any evidence. So they shift their focus on wig merchant Floyd Eagle-san (Ken Jeong) but at home, Gru's daughters dream of having a mother and when meeting Lucy at the mall, Agnes senses the tension between both adults. Just when Lucy finds traces of the mutagen, Gru becomes concerned for Margo when she starts hanging out with Eduardo's son Antonio (Moises Arias), which only makes him continue suspecting his El Macho theory. Gru would eventually start falling for Lucy after she saves him from a blind date gone wrong and almost tells her how he feels until he couldn't. The reason would come from Floyd being arrested by AVL after finding a nearly empty jar of the mutagen in his shop. With this discovery, Ramsbottom closes the investigation and reassigns Wilde to Australia. When he and his kids get invited to Eduardo's Cinco de Mayo party, he follows Perez to a secret lair to confirm he was El Macho all along who faked his death and framed Floyd. He also reveals he has hired Dr. Nefario and stole most of the minions to make them purple skinned indestructible beasts with PX-41. He offers Gru the chance to join him in conquering the world, but he lies and tells him he's onboard before retreating with his daughters. Suspicious, El Macho sends one of the mutated minions to his home. That backfires when Nefario shows regret for betraying his friend and redeems himself by creating an antidote and lacing it with the jelly. When Lucy abandons her reassignment, she goes to find Gru and tell him how she feels, only to be captured by El Macho who discovers her secret. Nefario warns Gru of what happened, inspiring him to sneak into El Macho's fortress and save her. Nefario and the kids would then accompany him with enough doses of the antidote-laced jelly to save the minions. Nefario sends Lucy into a volcano in the same vein he faked his death and consumes the mutagen for himself to defeat Gru. Thankfully, Dr. Nefario knocks him unconscious with the fart gun while Gru reaches to Lucy before the rocket launches. As he frees her from the rocket and safely jump into the ocean, he tells her how he feels and officially asks her out which she accepts. The film ends in a time jump revealing both to have married each other after multiple dates and Lucy is accepted as a mother to the girls.
THOUGHTS
I hold the first film dearly to my heart, like I do with many animated films, so I was totally onboard to check this out and it pleases me how in a way, it tops the joy I felt before. Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud return to the director's chairs to make their most effective delivery on being extravagant of an adventure. Compared to the rest of the series, it feels the sharpest with each of their designs; Not only do the characters feel distinguishable but the locations have just as much life. With Coffin also voicing the minions again, you know you're gonna be laughing a whole lot. Whether it is one crushing over a human like Lucy, or all joyless partying and playing dress up, it's hard to not smile for how harmless. The big twist however is how they get to have more meaning to the story as in their presence is important for the first time before their own spinoffs. Seeing them go from happy going figures to vile beasts in the blink of an eye was a surprise because you don't expect them to be misused like so as it's the first time they're against their own will. Thankfully, they became free before they could do anything irreversibly bad. With such an element, I think it can bring things full circle in saying this film is overall effective on being entertaining for continuing the theme to embrace change as long as it doesn't harm anyone. Steve Carell's return as Gru shows him to be more grounded than before because his newfound fatherhood inspires him to do good and nothing more. Proud of returning the moon, he is inspired to make a difference but isn't used to being told what to do which is a big deal when joining AVL. Due to being in a different position however, he is able to have his voice heard by others rather than ignored the way his mom did in his childhood. That alone helps him stick around and continue being motivated to do good. Little would he expect to find love for the first time in his adult life. Besides Steve Coogan making Ramsbottom a respectable guy for being reasonable towards Gru, Kristen Wiig was a delight as Lucy because she's his polar opposite where she enthusiastic in her line of work and doesn't know what complaining is compared to him. I think they become so compatible in the long haul because they understand one another's perspectives where they realize their way, his or hers, isn't the old way. From that and the fact they saved each other from unexpected predicaments, I don't see a reason for them to not be together. The girls definitely get their shine in given time and it's just effective enough to appreciate them. Miranda Cosgrove showed Margo as a kid who gets a little curious with boys and getting stood up by Antonio before the climax went in motion, she accepted no boy is gonna be perfect especially when it's the first crush. Dana Gaier still nails it as the tomboy Edith, but it's Elsie Fisher's Agnes who is the scene stealer between the three girls. She's the most curious of the bunch because although she's grateful to have Gru as a dad, she openly wanted the whole package that is a mother as well. Luck of the irish was by her side because when she met Lucy, the rest was history in all good ways. Russell Brand definitely brought another element in Nefario because he was someone who missed his heyday and wasn't into Gru's changes. He thought resuming old ways only for it to backfire big time. Once he realized how much it affected Gru on his new life lease, he had to redeem himself in doing right by him because he knew his family didn't deserve the betrayal. Since Gru officially becomes a full blown protagonist, we know we're in for new threats. Vector was a surprise in the first film, but El Macho brought a whole new ballgame. Benjamin Bratt made him an interesting one of the bunch this franchise has seen because he's all about going grand and living up to his own nickname and arguably does it whenever he could. When Gru stole the moon though, he had to raise the bar by conquering the world and stealing the minions for his own gain. He definitely raised the bar in making things personal when sending one of the mutated minions after his family. Luckily, his reign of terror was over before it could ever start. This movie was hella fun, but casual fan doesn’t excuse some issues I picked up on during re-watches. For instance, why is the basketball hoop so high? Ain’t no way the girls are gonna reach it unless the minions help either one of them. And let’s be honest, how did Gru have a fairy costume on him incase the hired fairy princess bailed? If the minions made one his size, that should be clarified. I’m also sure Fred’s front yard should be a wasteland if everything disintegrates when exposed to Kyle’s urine. Also, why do the minions wait until Lucy starts driving away to try saving Gru. They probably could’ve had a better chance if they got to her before she closed the trunk on him. And how did Gru fall for the rowing the boat when the minions are supposed to do it for him? If their whole point of existence is to satisfy their superior that is him, they should’ve done it in a heartbeat. If I gotta start talking about continuity errors, I gotta admit how weird it was for the vacuum to be in front of the door after the maid minion gets abducted when it was past the door beforehand. That tripped me out more than El Macho’s chest tattoo being absent after he reveals himself to Gru. And what exactly were the minions celebrating before Gru went out to investigate El Macho’s restaurant? If there was a minion holiday instead of a random Thursday, it would’ve been cool to get an explanation on that. Also, how is Lance not concerned of the other minions gone missing? He should be a little curious on where they could be because it’s not like they leave unannounced. Other than that, this is still a blast for what it is. In short, Despicable Me 2 earns the Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination for raising the stakes in its storytelling and feel funnier than the predecessor. If you loved the first film, this is totally worthwhile.
Comments