Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Fun-filled animated craziness for everyone

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One poster for Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud's Despicable Me 2 that trusts the sage wisdom that the franchise's cute and banana-esque 'minions' can sell anything

Former super villain Gru is now a full-time dad and is quietly leaving the super villain business, when the AVL (Anti Villain League) searches him down to get him to help them track down a new super villain with a world threatening new weapon. He reluctantly agrees to the job and is partnered up with agent Lucy Wilde.

Despicable Me 2 is written by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul (The Santa Clause 2 (2002), both) and directed by great French filmmaker Pierre Coffin and great Marylander filmmaker Chris Renaud (Despicable Me (2010), both). It is the sequel to the big 2010 hit, which it surpasses in quality: It has more depth to its story, more heart and more laughs. It is an animated family comedy that is as hard to resist as the cuteness of the yellow minion characters in it. The movie develops into a romance with funny takes on dating, the nerves provoked by the exercise, and on fatherly protective instincts.
The unknown new super villain in the film is to be staked out in an ... American mall, using a store as a front for his evil business. This ploy comes in handy for many laughs. It gets down to a tie between the zealous wigmaker, Floyd Eagle-san (Ken Jeong (Ride Along 2 (2016))) and the charismatic Mexican restaurant owner, Eduardo Perez. - Who of the two is the super villain who threatens world peace?
Steve Carrell (The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)) and Kristin Wiig (Bridesmaids (2010)) are back as voice stars in the movie (although Wiig now voices a different part), with Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)) still voicing Gru's funny lab-expert Doctor Nefario. Pharrell Williams (The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)) still contributes unorthodox tunes to some sequences (in collaboration with composer Heitor Pereira (Show Dogs (2018)). Despicable Me 2's team of writers and animators have keen eyes for the ridiculous and silly in most any location and situation, and the humor is a good-spirited mix of slapstick and character-driven gags. The super villain El Macho, voiced perfectly by Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality (2000)), is a prime example of this. The minion hilarity is also turned up in the follow-up to everyone's pleasure. The little yellow critters are a really good sport that appeal broadly to just about anyone.
And while the animation doesn't make one's eyeballs turn inside out in amazement, it is a very exuberant and handsome film that still pays much attention to using its 3D-side for various whoa effects.
Everyone seems to attack the fantastic universe with more confidence and spirit in this second go-around, and the result is a flourishing, marvelously entertaining time. Despicable Me 2 is a very happy, fun-filled time for the whole family.

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Despicable Me (2010) - Renaud & Coffin's wonderfully conceptualized animation family comedy (also directed by Coffin/Renaud)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 76 mil. $
Box office: 970.7 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 12.77 times its cost)

[Despicable Me 2 premiered 16 June (Champs-Elysées Film Festival, France) and runs 98 minutes. Most of the animation took place in Paris, France. Al Pacino was cast as El Macho but left the film due to creative differences late in the process with Bratt taking over the part. The film opened #1 to an 83.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained #1 for another weekend and stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weekends (#2-#3-#5), grossing 368 mil. $ (37.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 72.2 mil. $ (7.4 %) and China with 52.9 mil. $ (5.4 %). It was the 3rd highest-grossing film of the year and the most profitable film ever in the 101 year history of Universal Pictures. The road to securing the film a release in China was very difficult (the first Despicable Me went unreleased theatrically in the market) due to the restrictive, unfair Communist legislation there. One of the world's largest airships was rented to travel 20,0000 miles (32,000 km) across the US as the 'Despicablimp', marketing the film. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Original Song (Happy by Pharrell Williams), lost to Let It Go by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez from Frozen, and Animation, also lost to Frozen. It won 1/2 BAFTA award nominations and was nominated for a Golden Globe, among many other honors. Coffin returned with Minions: Super Fans Spot (2015, short) and theatrically with Minions (2015); Renaud with The Secret Life of Pets (2016). Carell returned in a short, a TV-series and a music video prior to his theatrical return in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013). Despicable Me 2 is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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