'Despicable Me 2' DVD Review: More Minions Please!

Despicable Me 2, the sequel to the hit Despicable Me, goes from a hilarious children's animated comedy to a romantic comedy with minion-sized laughs.

Gru (Steve Carell) is back in the villain business again, but this time he’s on the other side – the good side. Gru, a family man and adoptive father of Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Elsie Fisher) and Agnes (Dana Gaier), is now a jams and jelly sandwich-maker who turned in his evil cape for a princess gown. Gru, an evil mastermind turned-single dad, opens the film with the promise of laughs when he dresses up in a princess grown at Agnes’ birthday party, but the movie fails to follow through.

The switch to the good side was not an easy one for Gru. Approached, or rather, kidnapped by Lucy (Kristen Wiig), an Anti-Villain League (AVL) agent, Gru is offered a job as a spy. He teams up with Lucy and joins the AVL to catch the thief who stole an entire laboratory containing mutant formula PX-41 that turns organisms in to aggressive monsters.

Although out of the Villain League, Gru has not lost his touch, and immediately identifies one of his ex-evil peers, El Macho (Benjamin Bratt), hiding undercover as a Mexican restaurant owner named Eduardo, as the number one suspect in the case. The fact that Eduardo’s son shows interest in Margo doesn’t help quiet Gru’s suspicions, and his over protectiveness causes him to condemn Eduardo without evidence.

Gru is not only scared of his little girls dating. He, himself is also scared to date. The girls feel as though something is missing in their lives, a mother figure for them and a significant other for Gru. Enter Gru’s new partner, Lucy, who worms her way into Gru’s heart when she subdues his horrible blind date long enough for them to get away.

The highlight of the movie was the ending and the minions performing a backstreet song at Gru’s wedding.
Despicable Me 2 falls shorts in laughs, as this installment was more romantic than funny. Although a bad villai,n Gru was a funny one. His idiotic, evil blunders and quibble with Vector in Despicable Me was hilarious. Furthermore, the disappearance of minions throughout the movie as a plot point removes the number one reason for audiences to watch the movie – the minions. More minions, less romance! Luckily, the DVD special features include three new minion movies, deleted scenes and the story of "El Hombre Malo: The Villainy of El Macho." The minion mayhem is not over yet!