The character of Lucy is beautifully drawn, a sharp, slender 1960s-style silhouette, but Wiig’s voice work is curiously flat. Gru is most suspicious of the proprietor of a Mexican restaurant, El Macho (Benjamin Bratt), who bears a strong resemblance to an allegedly dead former colleague of his, but much of his animosity could stem from the fact that El Macho’s young hipster son (Moises Arias) catches the eye of Edith, now at the age of texting. In a nod perhaps to Wiig’s Bridesmaids’ baking-obsessed character, their false front is a cupcake shop, although no one spends much time in the bakery.
Gru is recruited for a mission involving teaming up with Lucy for undercover work at a local mall where a supervillain is supposedly hiding in plain sight, preparing some nefarious plot involving a toxic serum that turns even the sweetest puppy into a killing machine. ( MORE: The Lone Ranger: Lost in a Western Myth) But ultimately Gru’s love interest is Lucy (Kristen Wiig), an aggressive agent with the Anti-Villain League who bests him with her lipstick taser on the first encounter - this sequence, involving Lucy piloting a car that turns into a boat and then back into a car again, is one of the more artful pieces of animation in a nifty-looking movie. (This overexercised, puffy-lipped creature is voiced by the great Kristen Schaal, which made me hope for a second date, despite how badly the first one goes.) His adopted daughters even join in the dating game, creating an online dating profile for him. A simpering blonde neighbor Jillian (Nasim Pedrad) sends him out on a date with one of her desperate housewife friends. Gru remains top-heavy, bald and possessed of a nose as sharp as scythe, but the local moms aren’t about to let an eligible man go unmatched. ( MORE: Richard Corliss on the First Despicable Me) “And sometimes I eat instead of facing my problems.” While the Minions provide most of the obvious laughs - the flatulence humor is plentiful - returning screenwriters Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul slip in choice lines like this for the parents in the audience. “Because my house is made of candy,” Gru tells her. “How come you’re so fat?” one of the little party guests asks accusingly. He hasn’t lost his edge entirely, though. We first catch glimpse of him at Agnes’ birthday party, where the besotted new dad is forced into donning a frilly dress that would do Little Bo Peep proud (the rented fairy princess failed to show). Having acquired those three cute daughters (Edith, Margo and Agnes) and reformed his supervillain ways (he’s attempting to make jams and jellies in his basement laboratory) the domesticated Gru (Steve Carell) is now, after a lifetime of avoiding the opposite sex for fear of rejection, shoved into the dating market. Follow IMDB logline for Despicable Me 2 is “Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to help deal with a powerful new super criminal.” Technically, that’s true, but this pleasing sequel is actually a classic marriage plot.
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