Directed By: Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud (Despicable Me)
Starring: Steve Carell, Kristin Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Steve Coogan, Russell Brand
Rating: PG for rude humor and mild action
Run Time: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Synopsis: Famed supervillain Gru (Carell) has retired from villainy to focus on being a good father to his daughters - Margo, Edith and Agnes - as well as starting his own jam and preserves company. But when the Anti-Villain League comes asking for his assistance to find and stop a new supervillain, Gru must team up with an agent named Lucy (Wiig) to stop a villain named El Macho (Bratt) who was long-thought to be dead.
REVIEW
Andrew:
Hello dear readers! Our sincerest apologies for our absence on the blog lately,
we’ve been pretty busy the last week or so with me traveling back to Michigan
last weekend for a wedding and then hosting Sarah’s younger sister all week out
here for an East Coast visit. Haven’t had a whole lot of down time when you
combine those things with work, but things have slowed down juuuuust enough
that we can finally post reviews we’ve been meaning to get to!
First up, Sarah and I were able to catch a morning showing
of last weekend’s hit animated film Despicable Me 2, the sequel to
2010’s Despicable Me, which is one of our favorite animated films of
all-time.
Steve Carell returns as Gru the supervillain-turned-adoptive
father to his three daughters Margo, Edith and Agnes.
Sarah:
This time around instead of being a bad guy he’s recruited by the Anti-Villain
League to help them bring down a new super-villain they can’t quite seem to
catch. We were really excited to see this one because we absolutely love the first
one, and this one didn’t disappoint! What are your thoughts on Despicable
Me 2?
A: I had a
ton of fun with it. I will say, I’m not quite sure that it’s up to the level of
Despicable
Me…
S: No,
it’s not…
A: But I
still enjoyed it for a lot of the same reasons I enjoyed the first one, namely
the characters, the voice-actors’ performances, physical humor…
S: Plus
the situational humor…
A: Yes,
and of course, the Minions. So a lot of things…if you liked the first one,
you’ll like this one. I just don’t think the plot was as good as the original.
S: The
story was definitely lacking here, but I mean, at the same time it’s a kid’s
movie so they had to keep it pretty simple. It definitely lose some of its
newness, it’s originality, but you get that when it comes to sequels. So that
definitely plays a part here.
It’s great that they brought back almost all of the same
voice actors as the first one, I think that’s very crucial when it comes to an
animated movie, at least from an adult point of view. From a kid’s perspective
it might not be that important, but for adults…there are other animated movies
that sometimes don’t do as well because they don’t bring back all their voice
actors.
So I think that’s important.
A: I think
you’re on to something, because much like Monsters University bringing back
Billy Crystal and John Goodman, I absolutely don’t think they could have made
this film without Steve Carell returning as Gru. I think to a lesser extent
they needed all the girls’ voice actors to come back, especially Miranda
Cosgrove as Margo…I mean, you could have
used different actors for Edith and Agnes, but there’s just something…
S: There’s
something about Agnes’ voice that’s perfectly cute, and Cosgrove is able to
give Margo a realistic feeling teenager aspect.
A: Yes,
they were just perfect for their roles. I will admit, for the longest time I
could not peg whether or not it was Russell Brand doing Dr. Nefario again,
because in the first few scenes he’s in his voice sounded different to me
somehow, like it was lower or gruffer…
S: I wish
you had asked me if he had returned, because I knew for a fact that he had.
A: Well,
towards the end it becomes a little more apparent that it is Brand’s voice, so…yeah. I liked that they brought Kristin Wiig
back, albeit in a different role than the first film.
S: And it
was in a role that was way more like how Kristin Wiig usually is. Like, you
could tell it was her this time, whereas in the first one she definitely
changed her voice and sounded more Southern. This time, playing Lucy, it was
more in line with characters she usually plays, which was kind of fun!
A: I felt
like Lucy was an extension of Kristin Wiig. They gave her a similar hair color
to Wiig’s real hair, her mannerisms…stuff that really fit was Wiig does so
well. So I thought that was a successful addition to the movie. And of course
Lucy is a bit of a romantic character for Gru, so that was something I was
interested to see – now that Gru’s a dad, what’s the next step? And I think
they fit that natural progression.
S: It’s
really cute! I thought Benjamin Bratt as Eduardo, a.k.a. El Macho, I thought he
was very funny. Again, a little bit of a stretch, he’s not as strong of a
villain as Vector was in the first one…
A: But I
liked that they kept it a mystery as to who the real villain in the film in for
a while. Like, for the longest time Gru thinks it’s this Eduardo guy, then it’s
possibly this other character, but when it finally comes around to show that
Eduardo is the bad guy, I thought he was fine. I actually liked Eduardo more
when you couldn’t tell if he was really the bad guy or not.
S: Well
and he’s more of a comedic character than anything. Both sides of his character
are funny, his backstory is humorous, and I like that this villain kind of deals
with Gru now being a father and having to worry about things like boys, because
Eduardo’s son takes a liking to Margo. I think that that humanizes it and was
equally funny and cute.
A: Here’s
a talking point about El Macho: we mentioned that it’s Benjamin Bratt voicing
the character, but here’s the thing: originally…Al Pacino was supposed to be the voice
of El Macho!
S:
Really??
A: Yeah!
Pacino recorded his lines and everything, if I’m not mistaken, and then I think
he left because of creative differences. So he dropped out and they had to
replace him, so they replaced him with Benjamin Bratt.
So here’s the thing: as I was watching the movie I kept
thinking to myself, “How would this character have sounded if it were still
Pacino?”
S: How
would this character have sounded with a New York accent? (laughs)
A: Well I
assume it would’ve been Pacino doing a Mexican accent. It’s not like he hasn’t
played Hispanic characters before.
S: Yeah, I
don’t know how I would have liked that. Possibly not at all. I think Bratt
takes himself a little less seriously than Pacino would have. No, I liked the
addition of Bratt to this series. Very interesting, though, to learn that it
was supposed to be Pacino. I can’t imagine what that would’ve been like. I’m
glad it turned out like it did.
I did miss Jason Segel, Will Arnett and Julie Andrews in
this one, though. But the Minions were fabulous again, they really kind of take
on a life of their own here.
A:
Actually, one of my complaints about this movie is that I feel like they
focused on the Minions a little too much this time.
S: Really?
A: It’s
obvious why they did it, because they were the real breakout star of the first film, it’s what the kids really
connected with and they’re catering to the kids here, but from an adult aspect?
Don’t get me wrong, I did laugh at them a lot, but there were times where I
felt like it was a little too much. So I’ll be curious about how I react to the
upcoming spin-off called Minions, starring Sandra Bullock and
Jon Hamm.
So it’s a small complaint. I actually really liked when the
Minions got turned into the purple, monstrous versions. I liked that they were
tweaking out and how they talked.
S: They
were hilarious!
A: Yeah,
so the Minions were funny, per usual.
S:
Overall, as an animated movie, it’s a great summer film to take the whole
family to see. It’s great that there have been two really fun animated movies
this summer that have come out around the same time, that there are options for
parents to take kids to, it’s not just another mindless action flick, you know?
Like most sequels it has its weaknesses, especially losing
some of its freshness, but that’s to be expected I think when it comes to most
sequels.
A: I do
want to say real quick before we wrap this up that I liked that they brought
back Pharell Williams to do the music…
S: Yup.
A: Kept with
the tone of the first one and worked well here. We saw this one in 3D and it
looked great
S: Yeah it
did!
A: And of
course, animated movies like this look a lot better in 3D than live-action
films do, but I would actually suggest checking this one out in 3D if you can,
especially for the kids because during the closing credits they let some
Minions roam free and a lot of what they do is geared towards the 3D.
S: I mean,
I’m not sure that it’s 100% necessary to see it in 3D, like it’ll be fine when
we own it and we watch it in 2D, but the 3D does add a bit of fun for the kids
and it’s good-looking 3D at that.
FINAL VERDICT:
A great way to kill a summer afternoon with the kids!
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| (Individual Scores - S: 4/5 A: 3.5/5) |
Photo Courtesy: twinnieworld.blogspot.com
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