Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Remember 'Despicable Me' which came out a few years ago and took everyone by surprise? How we all thought it would have been a mediocre comedy doing the same thing we have seen before but instead got an uplifting family comedy with some really clever villain jokes? Well, here's the sequel.

Having retired from being a supervillain to become a father to his adopted children, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (Elsie Fisher), and Edith (Dana Grier), Gru (Steve Carell) finds himself thrown back in the action when the Anti-Villain League, headed by Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) and agent Lucy Wilde (Kirsten Wiig), recruit him into finding a villain who has stolen a dangerous chemical.

The story is pretty good, seeing a former villain go undercover as a spy. Then again in the world of Despicable Me, there doesn't appear to actually be any heroes. Vector and Gru only had each other as obstacles in the first film, there appears to be no-one else but Gru to be the hero in this one. We have Agent Wilde, but even she says she's a rookie. But it is good to see how the characters have evolved since the first film.

In a way though, the way the characters have evolved could kind of alienate fans of the previous film. What made the first film really funny was it was being portrayed from a villain's point of view, so we saw a lot more dark humour. Because Gru has become a devoted father, he rarely shows this side now. The film is funny, it's still got that witty humour, don't get me wrong, it's just gone down a different tangent compared to the first film. In fact, the really funny bits for me in 'Despicable Me 2' are when we see the glimpses of villain Gru.

But I do want to stress it isn't a bad thing. It is great to see how the relationship between Gru and his adoptive daughters evolved and is evolving. But alongside that we have the relationship between Gru and Wilde, which is a bit cliche with the animosity between them, but then again that is swept aside fairly early on.

Wilde is an eccentric and likable character, and the other returning characters are still likable as well. It is, still, the Minions however that steal the show. However, Dr Nefario (Russell Brand), there is a certain thing with him which I just don't like, and it's not because he's voiced by Russell Brand. Surprisingly. I will be bringing it up in another post at some point in the near future though.

The animation is great, especially concerning action scenes, as is the voice acting. Hell, I thought that the climatic battle was better than all the action scenes in 'World War Z'...oh God 'World War Z' is this year's 'Battleship' for me. And I didn't even truly hate 'World War Z'.

It is a tremendously good film. Buuuuuut it's not as good as the first. It's missing that certain spark. Personally I feel that it's because Gru has become the loving parent instead of being the evil mastermind. There are some predictable and cliche bits as well. But, and I can't stress this enough, it's still a great movie. The humour is great, the acting is great, the story is great. It's still a great film.

Although, as much as I love the minions, I'm concerned about watching them nonstop for an entire film with their spin-off coming out next year

Oh................how can I say no to that?