Despicable Me 2 Movie Review

I am the queen of “now that it’s been out on DVD for awhile” movie reviews. This movie came out in theaters in July while Jonathan was still in Navy Boot camp (so I have a good excuse for missing it.. this was a must watch with the hubby movie), and the DVD released a few weeks ago.

Now, Jonathan and I are huge, huge, shamefully huge fans of the first Despicable Me movie. One-liners from the first movie regularly pepper our inside jokes and random comments in our home. I even got Jonathan one of those McDonalds minion kids meals toys as a Navy Boot Camp graduation present since the blue and yellow Navy exercise outfit looks suspiciously like minions.

The maddeningly vague previews to Despicable Me 2 did not give me much in the way of anticipation or dread for the sequel. There was little to no clue as to plot, or storyline, or timeline. I don’t know what kind of marketing ploy that was, but I didn’t like it. I ended up approaching the movie from a completely blind perspective and that just irked me.

I like to watch movies based on their potential for appealing to my tastes and interests, not based on brand name, franchise or star power. I think the scourge of our entertainment industry are the twerps that drool over every movie with Johnny Depp or Will Ferrell just BECAUSE it has Johnny Depp or Will Ferrell or some other overblown actor / actress. But I digress!

Now that we have a baby girl of our own, and we are anticipating the antics and giggles and charm that comes with a growing bundle of sugar and spice and everything nice, this movie took on a whole new aspect of “it’s so fluffy I’m gonna die”. It was another feel good flick, and a tear jerker for a post-pregnancy mama in the thralls of hormonal upheaval. (Gru is such a sweet dad!! *sob sob sob*)

Despicable Me 2 was just as funny as the first, although as familiarity breeds complacency, the comedy that came with discovering the personalities was missing. But Gru was just as funny as a good guy as he was a villain. I wish they’d had more moments of whats-her-face actually interacting with the girls and “becoming” their mommy. Like in the end scene with the “she kisses my boo boos, she braids my hair”.. it would have been so much more touching if we’d SEEN that she actually does do those things. But even without that character interaction aspect, it was still sweet and filled with excessive “awww”s.

They really amped up on the minion humor, which I kept thinking throughout the movie would get old, fast. But it somehow didn’t. I love the minions, but I didn’t want to see the slapstick, quick and easy chuckle quality antics overwhelm the actual storyline and dialogue. They walked a fine line of minion overdose and story development, and I think they succeeded in giving a mega-dose of minions without being annoying.

Favorite part of the movie? Jonathan and I were ROFL when it came to the dad with a pre-teen daughter scenes. “The son! I don’t like the son!! There’s something about the son. I don’t like him!” OMGLOL. *visions of Jonathan in the coming years*

Anyway, I’d highly recommend giving it a go if you haven’t seen it yet. Lots of laughs and feel-goodery abound. ^_^

Sooooo…. What did YOU think of this movie?!