They encapsulate after all what ultimately makes Despicable Me 2 quite hard to resist: they, and it, try so hard to make you laugh, that they’re more likely to succeed than not. Granted, sometimes, when all else fails, the film calls for a fart joke or something pretty straightforward, just to keep the engine ticking over. In at least one case, a pretty funny fart joke too. But it’s comedy, and quite a range of it, where Despicable Me 2 is on its soundest footing. That said, whilst the laugh count is solid, Despicable Me 2 does use the comedy to paper over the cracks elsewhere. It feels a bit like Shrek 2 in that regard. Accepting that the original Shrek was a better film than the first, enjoyable Despicable Me, Shrek 2 had a habit of calling for Donkey and a bit of work from Eddie Murphy when things were slowing up narratively. The same trick is repeated here with Despicable Me 2, but there’s only so much that the Minions and the gag cannon can disguise. It doesn’t help that the main story is, while not exactly weak, all a little familiar. It’s centred once more around Gru, voiced again by Steve Carell, who has moved on from being a full time supervillain to effectively being a full time father to this three adopted daughters. He’s lured, hardly reluctantly, back into his old ways, but he’s also got a domestic challenge to face too. The character of Gru remains balanced nicely, and there’s a sweetness to the family scenes as well. All that notwithstanding, Despicable Me 2 is a fun movie, about at the same level of its predecessor, with perhaps some slightly better laughs. It pales next to something like Pixar’s upcoming Monsters University, but there’s still enough energy and humour to get it through. And there’s a smashing, and very funny, dance number at the end. However, the idea of the scene-stealing Minions getting a movie to themselves remains troubling. They work very well as supporting characters, but how they fare when they become the star attraction remains to be seen. Certainly the over-the-end-credits scenes don’t dampen those concerns. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
title: “Despicable Me 2 Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-04” author: “Evangeline Roberts”
They encapsulate after all what ultimately makes Despicable Me 2 quite hard to resist: they, and it, try so hard to make you laugh, that they’re more likely to succeed than not. Granted, sometimes, when all else fails, the movie calls for a fart joke or something pretty straightforward, just to keep the engine ticking over. In at least one case, a pretty funny fart joke too. But it’s comedy, and quite a range of it, where Despicable Me 2 is on its soundest footing. That said, whilst the laugh count is solid, Despicable Me 2 does use the comedy to paper over the cracks elsewhere. It feels a bit like Shrek 2 in that regard. Accepting that the original Shrek was a better movie than the first, enjoyable Despicable Me, Shrek 2 had a habit of calling for Donkey and a bit of work from Eddie Murphy when things were slowing up narratively. The same trick is repeated here with Despicable Me 2, but there’s only so much that the Minions and the gag cannon can disguise. It doesn’t help that the main story is, while not exactly weak, all a little familiar. It’s centred once more around Gru, voiced again by Steve Carell, who has moved on from being a full time supervillain to effectively being a full time father to this three adopted daughters. He’s lured, hardly reluctantly, back into his old ways, but he’s also got a domestic challenge to face too. The character of Gru remains balanced nicely, and there’s a sweetness to the family scenes as well. All that notwithstanding, Despicable Me 2 is a fun movie, about at the same level of its predecessor, with perhaps some slightly better laughs. It pales next to something like Pixar’s upcoming Monsters University, but there’s still enough energy and humor to get it through. And there’s a smashing, and very funny, dance number at the end. However, the idea of the scene-stealing Minions getting a movie to themselves remains troubling. They work very well as supporting characters, but how they fare when they become the star attraction remains to be seen. Certainly the over-the-end-credits scenes don’t dampen those concerns.
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