One Shot Review: Despicable Me 21 of 1
7.5/10 "Good night Agnes," say super-villain Gru, as he kisses his youngest charge while tucking her in, "Never get older."
That same desire to maintain the status quo simultaneously dooms the second Despicable Me as it equally provides some of its best moments.
A paler copy of the first surprising film, DM2 (that sounds vaguely obscene) is less inventive and less involving, and, in place of the heart of its predecessor, attempts to make up for it by having more minions (the little yellow guys). Though they're funny, they can make up the difference.
The plot has Gru being forced by agent Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) of the Anti-Villain League into finding El Macho, a super villain (voiced by Benjamin Bratt), who disappeared years ago in a legendary flame out. El Macho is now hiding out as Eduardo, a barrel-chested restauranteur from the mall. So yes, not only will you likely have to watch this in a mall, you have to watch several scenes that take place in a mall.
This isn't the only case where an eerie sense of repetition is evident. One set piece has Gru attempting to infiltrate El Macho's Mexican establishment and running into a chicken patrolling the floor. What follows is a series of borrowed gags as the chicken proves to be a watch-chicken, and turns out to be a really dangerous creature (a la Monty Python and the Holy Grail) who pummels Gru into submission. The chicken even scurries into Gru's clothes and bursts out of his chest which is not only a nod to Alien but a direct rip-off of the fight between Shrek and Puss-n-boot in Shrek 2. It's all so lazy at this point that you wonder if they noticed.
El Macho also has a formula which turns the minions into horrid, evil purple monsters and that plot intermingles with Gru getting involved with Lucy up until the rocket launch climax. None of this craziness holds a candle to the meaning or the depth that the "Three Little Kittens" scene had from the first film. It's as if Illumination Entertainment, the Chris Meledandri animation production house at Universal, looked over at DreamWorks' Megamind and Monsters vs. Aliens and said, "Hey, let's just meet that bar." Too bad.
That same desire to maintain the status quo simultaneously dooms the second Despicable Me as it equally provides some of its best moments.
A paler copy of the first surprising film, DM2 (that sounds vaguely obscene) is less inventive and less involving, and, in place of the heart of its predecessor, attempts to make up for it by having more minions (the little yellow guys). Though they're funny, they can make up the difference.
The plot has Gru being forced by agent Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) of the Anti-Villain League into finding El Macho, a super villain (voiced by Benjamin Bratt), who disappeared years ago in a legendary flame out. El Macho is now hiding out as Eduardo, a barrel-chested restauranteur from the mall. So yes, not only will you likely have to watch this in a mall, you have to watch several scenes that take place in a mall.
This isn't the only case where an eerie sense of repetition is evident. One set piece has Gru attempting to infiltrate El Macho's Mexican establishment and running into a chicken patrolling the floor. What follows is a series of borrowed gags as the chicken proves to be a watch-chicken, and turns out to be a really dangerous creature (a la Monty Python and the Holy Grail) who pummels Gru into submission. The chicken even scurries into Gru's clothes and bursts out of his chest which is not only a nod to Alien but a direct rip-off of the fight between Shrek and Puss-n-boot in Shrek 2. It's all so lazy at this point that you wonder if they noticed.
El Macho also has a formula which turns the minions into horrid, evil purple monsters and that plot intermingles with Gru getting involved with Lucy up until the rocket launch climax. None of this craziness holds a candle to the meaning or the depth that the "Three Little Kittens" scene had from the first film. It's as if Illumination Entertainment, the Chris Meledandri animation production house at Universal, looked over at DreamWorks' Megamind and Monsters vs. Aliens and said, "Hey, let's just meet that bar." Too bad.