Back when the teaser trailers starting popping up for this film, I was apprehensive, and I have to admit a little nervous for what lay ahead as I entered the cinema. So many of my favourite animated films have been spoilt by a cash cow sequel, and I’m sure I share this fear with a fair few cinephiles. There’s always a summer blockbuster that turns into a nightmare of sloppy animation thrown over a storyline that is nigh on identical to the original, but with the introduction of characters we really don’t care about enough to find them endearing (why hey there Mater of Cars 2 infamy- but that’s another review). However, I was extremely relieved and pleasantly surprised to find that Despicable Me 2 is in that rare category of film sequels that are just as good as their successors, finding the time for an original storyline that is equal parts amusing and visually pleasing.
The film picks up where the last one left off, with Gru (Steve Carell) now retired from the villainy scene, instead focusing on bringing up his daughters- this includes Gru’s fear of his eldest daughter Margo (Miranda Cosgrove) getting a boyfriend. However, he is soon recruited by the Anti- Villain League to spy out a nefarious supervillain in the neighbourhood, and this switch from villainy to espionage is a clever move by the playwrights. I’ll admit, it was a shame we didn’t get to see villainous Gru again, but there’s still a lot of scope to see the fun gadgets and misfit minions that added charm to the original film.
I think my main qualm would be the predictable “family message” of the film, which despite not being stuffed down the throats of the audience, was still a bit obvious. About five minutes in, the youngest girl Agnes worries that she won’t do well in her Mother’s Day school pageant due to her very lack of a mother. Cue Lucy Wilde (voiced by Kristen Wiig, who provided different vocals in the first film), Gru’s colleague in espionage. It’s not hard to see where they’re going with this. However, their chemistry is a funny one, as Lucy is new on the job and therefore we get her bounding-off-the-walls positive energy next to Gru’s criminal mastermind, making for a hilarious pairing. There’s also the other blossoming romance of the film, Margo’s crush on the son of a potential villain, which leads to some real fatherly moments of hating the first boyfriend, without getting too schmaltzy.
Unfortunately there is a reprise of the fart gun, but that stands as one of the few moments of puerile humour in the film. Granted, the jokes throughout fall under the sort of “good silly fun” you expect from a film such as Despicable Me 2, and the best of these come from the minions. A particular favourite part for me was a song rendition in the style of a 90s boy band, something I imagine wasn’t stuck in for the kids in the audience. They’re not all laugh out loud moments, and the sequences can be a little ridiculous, but once you get into your stride that this isn’t a realist film, you’ll have a brilliant time.