In the first Despicable Me the minions were mostly
background characters that provided the occasional comic relief. This time around in Despicable Me 2 the minions are pretty much front and center while
the plot happens around them. Admittedly,
it’s difficult to fault the producers for this decision when the minions are
easily the best and most marketable part of the movie. The problem is that it occasionally feels
like they’re just killing time until the Minions
spinoff movie next year.
As the sequel begins Gru (Steve Carell) has more or less
settled happily into his new role as a father and after his moon stealing
episode seems to have retired from his work as a super-villain completely. He is then recruited by the Anti-Villain
League (who for some reason were nowhere to be found in the first movie) to
find out who stole a powerful potion that turns living organisms into giant,
furry, purple abominations. Gru
reluctantly agrees and goes undercover at the local shopping mall with AVL
agent and obligatory love-interest Lucy (Kristen Wiig). Gru quickly begins to suspect the culprit to
be Mexican restaurant owner Eduardo Perez (Benjamin Bratt) whom he believes to
bear a striking resemblance to the supposedly deceased super-villain “El Macho.” His
suspicions aren’t helped when Eduardo’s son Antonio (Moises Aries) begins to
take an interest to his oldest daughter Margo (Miranda Cosgrove). Meanwhile the minions are being quietly
kidnapped as part of the mysterious villain’s plot.
As
anybody that saw the first film might’ve expected the minions are absolutely
hilarious. They’re as incoherent as ever
but just like the last movie they’re cute, charming and make for great
slapstick comedy. For me the comedy
highlights are two of the minions accidently parasailing from a moving car and
singing their own renditions of “Y.M.C.A.” and “I Swear” in their trademark
gibberish. Their antics don’t
necessarily advance the plot, but all of their individual scenes are so funny that
for the most part it never really bothered me that much.
The
problem with the minions greatly increased screen time is that it takes away
from the character development of pretty much everybody else. Gru spends most of what little change he is
given acting as a comic foil for the romance between Margo and Antonio and then
eventually trying to woo Lucy. Halfway
through it dawned on me that Gru has basically been reduced to being a sitcom
dad. The youngest daughter Agnes’ only
motivation in the entire film is that she wants a mother. She doesn’t seem to be particularly concerned
with what kind of mother as long as she gets one, to the point that the second
she meets Lucy she wastes absolutely no time in trying to encourage her to get
together with Gru. Of course that’s more
than I could say for the growth of middle child Edith (I had to look her name
up on Wikipedia) and Gru’s assistant Dr. Nefario who both look to have almost
disappeared from the plot altogether.
What’s really confusing about the broader focus on the minions is that
they’ve already got their own movie coming out next year which makes me
question why they couldn’t simply wait until that movie to make them the
protagonists.
Despicable Me 2
for better or worse feels mostly like a rehash of the original. The audience wanted to see more of the
minions and Despicable Me 2
delivers. While it’s hard to get angry
at the producers for giving the audience what they wanted it also makes it a
little difficult for me to truly take it seriously as a film. They obviously went to great lengths to
increase the minion’s appeal but I just wish they had put same effort towards
everybody else.
Grade: B-
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