Despicable Me 2

I liked the first Despicable Me. Liked, but not loved. I thought it was a clever idea, perhaps a bit wrongfully advertised. It wasn't about a "villain" in my mind, perhaps being excited for the upcoming "Megamind", but more about a classic mad scientists profession as the career he loved slowly becomes a young mans game, and as he discovers that even as an evil mad scientist, he can be a father. I liked it, but I found its sense of humor to be a bit unfocused. It worked, but it was inconsistent.

That being said, my feelings towards Despicable me were completely reversed for its sequel. Now I felt that the film really found its humor, it really had a sense of the way it wanted to reach a punchline. When a joke was told, it really worked, and it really had me laughing. The minions in particular were far less of a random punchline and, to me, far funnier in this film than the previous (perhaps because they were used as actual characters rather than just punchlines and comic relief). Gru in particular went from a series of missed opportunities to a solid character, of course aided by the comic stylings of Steve Carell I'm sure.

But where this film made up for humor, it lost for story. The story of a man who desperately tries to understand love for his new daughters is followed up by a solely comedic script, about a mad scientist now hunting a super villain and falling in love with an obviously perfect for him female. It works, don't get me wrong. But considering the ambition of the first Despicable Me, I was hoping for more depth, a story that maybe could use the same sense of humor with a storyline that pulled my heartstrings the way the first film did.

That aside, there's a lot of fun to be had with this film. It finally accepts that no one wants to see this movie except for the minions, which meant they had a lot more screen time. The slapstick with them was great, not unlike the slapstick I loved from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, but faster, throwing more laughs for the kids with plenty of laughs from the grownups trying to pretend they don't like it. The story has its problems, but they're made up for with a stylish look and fun new characters. I particularly loved the villain in this film, how he wasn't exactly a villain to the characters (he was actually pretty darn lovable), but just evil enough for us to have as much fun with him as other super villain characters. So I suppose the best way to describe it is as a great popcorn movie, a lot of fun for pretty much anybody, but not nearly as deep thinking as previous animated movies.

Rank - 3/5