A Witty Animated Sequel: Less Dramatic, More Hilarious Than Its Predecessor
Having adopted three orphans, the supervillain Gru has retired from his life of crime. Now, he lives as an honest man, throwing children’s parties and making jam. Suddenly, he is kidnapped by Anti-Villain League agent Lucy Wilde. Her organization is searching for a criminal who stole a dangerous mutagen serum, and Lucy’s boss believes that the retired villain can help in the search. Gru reluctantly agrees and, together with Lucy, opens a shop in a hypermarket where the police lost track of the serum.
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Kristen Wiig, who voices Lucy Wilde, played the malevolent Miss Hattie, the director of the orphanage, in the first film.
Ever since Pixar Studios created the first full-length computer-animated film, “Toy Story,” animators from many countries have joined the competition with American computer artists. However, until recently, “foreigners” could not seriously compete with animators from the United States. It wasn’t until 2010 that the French studio Mac Guff, in partnership with the American production company Illumination Entertainment, created the computer-animated film “Despicable Me,” which matched Hollywood productions in terms of graphics, humor, and box office revenue. Now, its sequel is being released. Have the French reached the level of their first hit?
Before switching to creating animated films, Mac Gaff drew effects for French films such as “Dobermann” and “Vidocq.”
Despicable Me 2: A Hilarious Sequel
Yes, they have. However, “Despicable Me 2” is not quite the same film as its predecessor. In the first film, Gru was a villain who tried to steal the Moon, committed petty and major pranks, and exploited children. Now, Gru is a kind and caring hero who only carries weapons for self-defense. So, don’t expect “daring” gags from the sequel, like “Gru freezes the line to buy coffee.” And don’t count on a new comedic sci-fi action film. There is much less action in “Despicable Me 2” than in the first film. After all, while Gru was fighting a competitor throughout the entire film in 2010, in the sequel, he tries to find and expose a criminal until the very end. The culmination of the film, although large-scale, feels rushed. It clearly should have been longer and more spectacular.
Why You Should Watch It
Nevertheless, “Despicable Me 2” is worth watching. Because, while turning down the burners of drama and action, the French turned up the burner of comedy to the max. Their new animated film is a hilarious farce, reminiscent of the best Gallic comedies and surpassing them in surreal wit, which is only possible in animation. As in the first film, the main source of jokes is Gru’s pill-shaped and yellow-skinned minions, speaking in an incomprehensible language in which familiar words are sometimes guessed. But if in “Despicable Me” their antics caused smiles, now they make you laugh until you drop. We are already counting the days until the release of the minion movie promised by the producers, about their acquaintance with Gru! Other characters, both main and secondary, also do not disappoint, and there is a good joke in almost every scene of the film. And often more than one. It is also nice that “Despicable Me 2” has not lost, but has increased its soulfulness and charm. Lucy Wilde, for example, could well win a beauty contest among the heroines of recent blockbuster animated films. And this despite the fact that she is by no means a sex bomb. However, if Mac Gaff could not draw a beauty who does not look like Marilyn Monroe, what kind of French would they be after that!