Film Review: "Despicable Me 2" (2013).

The film’s taglines include "More minions. More despicable" and "When the world needed a hero, they called a villain". These are used to describe Despicable Me 2. This 3D computer-animated adventure comedy film and the sequel to Despicable Me (2010). Produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures, directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, who both directed the last film. Steve Carell, Russell Brand, and Miranda Cosgrove reprise their roles as Gru, Dr. Nefario and Margo. Kristen Wiig, who played Miss Hattie in the first film, voices agent Lucy Wilde. New cast members include Benjamin Bratt as Eduardo and Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom, head of the Anti-Villain League. While Gru, the ex-supervillain is adjusting to family life and an attempted honest living in the jam business, a secret Arctic laboratory is stolen. The Anti-Villain League decides it needs an insider's help and Gru is recruited to help in the investigation. Together with the eccentric AVL agent, Lucy Wilde, Gru has to deal with a powerful new super criminal.

The performances were just fun and humorous as they were in the first film. Carrell's inflectious peformance as Gru, his Slavic, Bela Lugosi/Ricardo Montalban and fun ex-villain does the trick, as before in the first film. Brand's performance was great again and was a delight to see him again. His performance as Dr. Nefario continues to amaze me as I ask "how in the world did he achieve that kind of performance?" Cosgrove's performance in the previous film was fun but had very little characterization. But this film, likely, the filmmakers had developed more characterization into the character for this film and was just as fun in the last film. Wiig in this film was wildly fun and surprising as her name suggests. It was her character's clever hesitations and comic timing that helped steal the show. Bratt gave a great performance as Eduardo, the villain of the film (*spoiler alert!*). Oppose the kind of role that made him famous on Law & Order. Lastly, Coogan's performance was humorous despite his minimal amount of lines, but as I said 'humorous' just like his name - Silas Ramsbottom ("bottom").

It may not be as fresh as the original, but the humor and colorful secondary characters make Despicable Me 2 a winner in its own right. The film is an improvement on the original, with more fleshed-out characters, crisper animation and more consistent humor. The storyline arc may seem a tad cliché to some moviegoers, but it offers enough action, comedy, and classic Steve Carrell performance to save it from total oblivion. To conclude, the creative team at Illumination Entertainment have prevailed, serving a strong sequel. It may not be better than its predecessor, but it is just as emotionally satisfying. Finally, it is heartfelt and hilarious, smart and silly, action-packed and never violent for the children.

Simon says Despicable Me 2 receives: