Despicable Me 2
The story: By the end of Despicable Me (2010), Gru (Steve Carell) had gone from super villain to doting adoptive father of three little girls. In this sequel, Gru has to work with the Anti-Villain League’s Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig). They have to track down the baddie who has stolen a chemical that can transform the most innocuous life form into a vicious killing machine.

Welcome back, minions.
The title may refer to Gru, but the merry creatures of mayhem were the true breakout stars of the first film. The pint-sized yellow minions speak in a cross between a charming foreign tongue and toddler gobbledygook, and get up to no end of mischief and hi-jinks.
The trailer for this sequel had cleverly leveraged on their popularity and, in the flick itself, their role has been upsized.
Moviegoers get to see more of the minions in little throwaway gags: from balancing golf putts on one another to one dressing up as a French maid. They even feature prominently in the main plotline.
So where does that leave Gru? In a pretty good place, actually.
His turnaround from evil to good remains firmly in place. And his biggest headache is no longer cooking up some new crooked scheme, but cooking up jam with his old partner Dr Nefario (Russell Brand).
This time, Gru gets to go after the bad guy. The suspects are all helpfully located at a mall and include showy Mexican restaurant owner Eduardo Perez (Benjamin Bratt) and shifty wig store owner Eagle-san (The Hangover’s Ken Jeong).
There are even two burgeoning romances worked into the movie – one between Gru and his admiring partner Lucy; and the other between Margo, the oldest of his adopted daughters, and Antonio, the son of the Mexican restaurant owner.
The screenplay, again by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, feels sharper and funnier this time around. Directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud have also done a better job overall with juggling the different story elements.
Over the closing credits, moviegoers get another serving of minion cuteness as three of them audition for the upcoming spin-off movie, Minions.
While the creatures are a blast in small doses, one is not sure if an entire movie built around them will actually work.
Well, maybe, if you think about it as akin to watching a foreign language farce.
(ST)