Despicable Me 2 (3D) (2013, Dirs. Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, USA) (Cert: U/PG) ***

 

Starring: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt

 

Now a devoted father, former super-villain Gru (Carell) is tracked down by a secret agency known as the Anti-Villain League when a UFO is spotted and Gru suspects a disappeared super-villain known as El Macho. Teaming up with Anti-Villain League agent, Lucy Wilde (Wiig), Gru tries to solve the mystery whilst also caring for his three little girls (Miranda Cosgrove, Elsie Fisher, Dana Geier) and his countless hoardes of mischievous minions get into all kinds of trouble.

 

When it was released in 2010, Despicable Me, the first feature film by Illumination Entertainment proved very popular. A feat that Illumination fell short of with subsequent films, Hop (2011) and The Lorax (2012). Now returning back to the Despicable Me franchise, it appears that whilst Illumination has trouble with some characters outside those from their debut film, at least as far as the Despicable Me series goes, they’re doing fine. As far as being a sequel goes, Despicable Me 2 isn’t really an improvement on the last film (a film which you really need to see to get a grasp of this film’s plot). The humour is on roughly the same level, but this film does lack some of the heart and sweetness of the first film, a flaw in the writing rather than the performances. Most of the familiar big names return to the series (Steve Carell, Miranda Cosgrove and Russell Brand, although with much less screentime in this film) and are now joined by some new big name talent (Benjamin Bratt, Steve Coogan, Kristen Wiig) and most of the performances are pitched at their most over-the-top, but not so far as to become an irritation, although often the film is stolen completely by the lovable minions. Despicable Me 2 suffers from the same pandering towards the 3D market that the first film did (things are often dangled at camera in a way to completely sell the 3D illusion) and it’s extremely predictable but whilst the film isn’t for the most part uproariously funny, it is at least entertaining and just generally good fun.