Despicable Me 2 Review

 Number 733 on the top 1000 films of all time is the computer-animated comedy Despicable Me 2.

Former supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) is now a loving father to his three adoptive daughters. However, he is tempted into becoming a hero by secret agent Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) when the mutagen PX41 is stolen from the Arctic Circle. This all forms part of a greater plan when it is revealed that supervillain El Macho (Benjamin Bratt) stole the mutagen in his scheme for world domination.

I liked this film as much as I liked its predecessor which is very little at all. It had all of the same weaknesses as the first Despicable Me. The humour wasn't even juvenile. It was infantile. There was an over-reliance on poop and fart jokes. I get that this is family-friendly. I get that it's meant for kids. But there is more to entertaining kids than poop and fart jokes. Usually in family-friendly films like in Disney Pixar while there are silly jokes for kids, there are lots of jokes that only adults are meant to get. But there was none of that in Despicable Me 2. Just juvenile humour and Steve Carell being Steve Carell.

I don't know why he's doing a silly voice with a silly accent. And I don't know why he has to do it throughout the whole film. It became very old very quickly. I get why this is a children's film. It has bright, eye-popping animation, lots of idiotic humour and cute little minions, but there is little substance for anybody older than the age of ten. The storyline was predictable, the voice performances were forgettable and, even the minions, who have gone onto become the mascots of this franchise became very tedious after a while.

Yes, I'm being a grumpy old man. But this grumpy old man did not like this film at all. It was despicable.

Despicable Me review

 Number 609 on the top 1000 films of all time is the animated comedy film Despicable Me. 

Gru (Steve Carell) is a supervillain who has been usurped by his younger rival Vector (Jason Segel.) With the help of his elderly assistant Dr Nefario (Russell Brand) and his legion of yellow minions, he aims to regain his reputation in the supervillain world by stealing the moon. However, this plan is complicated by his begrudging adoption of three little girls whom he starts to deeply care for.

I didn't like this film at all. Granted, I'm not the target market; this film is meant for kids. With its eye-popping visuals and bright, vivid colours, it is sure to be appealing for younger audiences. Beyond the visual flair was juvenile, immature humour, a cheesy storyline and an over-the-top performance by Steve Carell. 

I can understand that as a child fart and poop jokes are the pinnacle of humour, but as an adult I would be expecting something a little more refined. I wouldn't have minded one or two of these kind of jokes, but not a constant, never-ending onslaught. The humour became rather tedious after a while.

As did the entire film. It was a predictable run-of-the-mill affair. We are introduced to a seemingly villainous character who we find out isn't as villainous as we first thought as they have a soft-spot for orphans. He misses an event that is very important to them and supposedly has ruined their relationship only to go through a redemption arc at the end. This kind of storyline would have made more sense if we were watching a dark or an anti-hero character, but not a self-confessed supervillain. Do we really want to see our villains be redeemed?

While I do think Steve Carell is a capable dramatic actor, he is woefully over-the-top when it comes to comedy. The silly voice and accent he did for Gru was completely unnecessary and it became very annoying after a while. He is a physically expressive actor and I could see him trying (and failing) to inject this same physical humour into this animated role.

Maybe if I was a kid I would have really liked this film, but I really did not care for it.