Despicable Me 2

Gru is back! The first time around he and his yellow minions had the nefarious scheme to steal the moon but where sabotaged by three girls that showed the not so despicable side of Gru. This time around domesticated Gru is hired by the Anti Villain League to find out who stole a top secret lab. Yes, Gru is back, but is he better than ever?

Despicable Me 2 starts off with a pretty grand theft. Not Great Pyramids grand but still pretty sweet. A top secret lab in the arctic circle that is conducting these behavior modification experiments until a huge magnet ship swoops in and lifts the whole thing away, which of course captures the attention of the Anti Villain League. Now weeks later and hardly a clue later, they decide to bring in an ex-villain who's an expert thief to help them out. This is where we pick up with our favorite despicable Gru who is in something of a pickle. Not a breaking into a heavily fortified house pickle, more like the fairy princess cant show up on his youngest girls birthday pickle. What's a fellow to do? Jump into a dress and be a fairy of course! Pretty soon Gru is thrown back into business, not his new jelly and jam business but the business of catching a villain...if only his oldest daughter stopped being so interested in boys.

Unfortunately almost everything that made Despicable Me so compelling and original in the first place is missing in this not so Despicable sequel. Where Gru was at his funniest in his villainy he is now domesticated and doting. The strongest part of the whole movie is when Gru becomes despondent and walks through the park sabotaging Frisbee games and yoga classes or when he freezes a boy who is interested in his oldest girl. Thank goodness for the comic relief of the minions who steal the movie in hilarity. So is Despicable Me 2 as good as its predecessor? Absolutely not. Will your kids care? Absolutely not. Will you still get a few laughs and giggles yourself? Sure.