Moi, moche et méchant 2

The ex-villain Gru is raising his daughters Margo, Edith and Agnes and researching a legitimate jelly and jam business with Dr. Nefarion and the minions. Meanwhile, a laboratory in Arctic is stolen by a powerful aircraft using magnetism. The Anti-Villain league (AVL) agent Lucy Wilde recruits Gru to help her agency to discover who has stolen the laboratory and its research. They know that the thief has a store in a mall, and Gru suspects that the owner of the Mexican restaurant Salsa & Salsa, Eduardo Perez, may be the villain El Macho that is presumed dead in an accident.

"Despicable Me 2" is a delightful family entertaining. Who can resist to Gru, Agnes and the minions? And now, with Margo growing up and interested in boys and the clumsy but heartwarming Lucy Wilde, it is a great fun for the whole family. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Meu Malvado Favorito 2" ("My Favorite Wicked 2")

Much funnier than the first one, Despicable Me 2 actually has me liking the second installation in a series much better than the original. A lot of sequels add in new characters. Some serve a purpose. Others not so much. This movie adds in new characters that are important. With funnier lines, funnier actions, and tons of minion madness, the movie has us focusing less on Gru's villainy, and more on the love life he never had.

It's not often that a hit animated film's sequel surpasses the original film. Despicable Me 2 is one of those rare cases. From the moment it appears on the screen to the end of the film, Despicable Me 2 is a fast paced, fun film that never ceases to be entertaining.

This film has you laughing quite often, contains humour that both kids and adults can appreciate, and had at least one moment that was worthy of clapping out loud to.

The character development is to be praised, as is the warmth and soul that Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud put into this film.

This film leaves you feeling joyful and satisfied and happy for the characters and the new direction their lives are taking.

This film is not to be missed and I can't recommend it enough.

Even more Despicable! Actually this is a sweet turn for the lovable anti-villain villain, Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), who is comfortably back as a bona fide family man, to the three adorable orphans who melted audiences hearts alike in the first film. Gru would seem like a fun father, but he takes his responsibilities overbearingly over the girls as he has trouble accepting them growing up. Not only that, but he struggles to find contentment with no longer being a villain, with his laboratory now transformed into a jam-making factory. Through expected plot development, advocated from a sequel, it is not until a love interest comes along, Lucy Wilde (voiced by Kristen Wiig), that Gru loosen his shell and the plot moves into action. She takes him to the aptly titled 'anti-villain league' who recruit Gru, with Lucy as his partner in anti-crime, to take down a new villain who has taken disguise at a local shopping mall. What better way to take down a villain than with a post-villain. However Gru is not as proficient as he used to be, he is divided and distracted between his responsibilities to his girls, his love for villainous antics and his mixed emotions to his new partner.

The plot moves efficiently and effectively, moving briskly but taking special care with the characters whom audience enjoyed the first time around, while injecting a few new ones. Of course this means the minions are back, if ads didn't make it obvious. The uniformly dressed but motley shaped crew seem to have grown exponentially in number, as they are ever present in the film. Even their antics in the background over petty things, prove hilarious, but the pint size helpers also take a pivotal role in the plot. This strikes an interesting point in the films advertising. Hardly any plot was divulged, beyond set-up, meaning that there are plenty of surprises to be had in the film. In fact the minions took the foreground of marketing, being funny without substantiating into crass or being overtly annoying. Not only are they ingenious supporting characters but also act as an ingenious means of marketing the film, without spoiling much of the fun of the film, similarly like Scrat in the Ice Age films. If you only liked them in the first film, you'll love them now.

The bottom line (hahaha 'bottom'- you read it in a minion voice didn't you :) is that this is a very comfortable flick. It lives up to the adage, if you liked the first you'll like this one. Colorful and cheerful animation, that is quite impressive, with more minion madness, as expected, punctuated by heart warming sentiment, in good measure.

I adored "Despicable Me" and my wife and I could never agree which we liked more--that film or the similarly themed "Mega Mind". We liked them both but she preferred "Mega Mind". Regardless, both films are excellent and entertaining for all ages. Because "Despicable Me" made a huge amount of money, it wasn't surprising that soon after they announced they were making a sequel. And, when the early teaser promos arrived in theaters, they stressed the minions and said nothing about the sort of story the sequel would be. This was, apparently, very prescient--as the film turned out to be exactly that--a film with a vague plot but which was worth seeing just for the antics of the minions. In fact, my wife decided to see "Despicable Me 2" simply because she heard me laughing many times at the minions.

The film picks up pretty much right after the first one. Gru has adopted the three little girls and they, along with the minions and Dr. Lethario, are one big, happy family. However, trouble is brewing. Some super-villain has stolen a top secret formula that transforms nice creatures into killing machines--and a top secret international organization approaches the ex-villain, Gru, to help the locate the formula. They give him a spunky female sidekick and eventually romantic sparks fly. As far as the secret formula and the villain are concerned, this really seemed secondary to the romance and antics of the minions--and this plot seemed to wrap itself up quickly and easily.

As I said, the plot, for what it is, is minimal and seems to be just an excuse to watch the minions as well as the romance. And, for me, this was enough to justify recommending the film. Clearly not as good as the original, but filled with fun nonetheless.