Recommended: Despicable Me 2 (2013)
A secret laboratory, somewhere near the Arctic Circle, has just been stolen by a mysterious vehicle using a giant magnet. The Anti-Villain League (AVL) become suspicious about this case as the lab contains a mutating chemical compound, PX-41, which could transform living things into indestructible killing machines. The organization must find someone to stop the mutating chemical from getting into the wrong hands.To that end, Lucy Wilde, an AVL agent forcibly abducts Gru after stunning him unconscious with her lipstick taser. Two of Gru’s minions who try to thwart her plans are captured also. They travel to AVL’s underwater headquarters where Gru meets the league’s Director, Silas Ramsbottom. He asks Gru to assist them in their efforts to track down the perpetrator and the missing mutagen. Gru refuses, preferring to concentrate on his new venture of producing bottled jellies and the responsibilities of being a father to his three adopted girls, Margo, Agnes and Edith. Before he leaves, Lucy admits she was impressed by his work as a villain and gives her namecard to Gru, urging him to contact her if he changes his mind. Upon return to his lab, Gru realises that his minion-run production line had churned out bottles of awful-tasting jellies. Also, his research scientist, Dr. Nefario confesses to Gru that he misses being “evil” and has been offered employment elsewhere. After giving Dr. Nefario a 21 fart-gun send-off with the minions, Gru contacts Lucy and takes on the task of recovering the stolen mutagen.
Traces of chemical scent given off by the mutagen narrow the search to the confines of The Paradise Shopping Mall. Gru works undercover as the owner of a cupcake shop in that mall with Lucy being assigned as his partner. He suspects one of the owners of a restaurant, named Eduardo, in the mall is an old super-villain called El Macho, who supposedly died after body-strapping TNT and riding a shark into an active volcano that resulted in his fiery demise. Lucy and Gru then decide to break into his restaurant but are spotted by Eduardo’s pet chicken and narrowly escape from being caught by Eduardo when he returns back to his shop late in the night. However, they find only a jar of secret-recipe salsa in his safe and nothing relevant to link Eduardo to the crime. While the team investigates wig merchant Floyd Eagle-san, Margo begins to develop a crush on Eduardo’s son, Antonio, to Gru’s frustration. The whole family is invited to Eduardo’s Cinco de Mayo party at his mansion where Gru’s protectiveness of his daughter leads him to make baseless wild accusations to the AVL’s Silas about Eduardo as El Macho and his son, which are scoffed at.
{loadposition tickers}
Later that day, a determined matchmaking neighbour, Jillian, sets a reluctant Gru up on a date with her rude and superficial friend Shannon. During the date, Shannon discovers Gru’s wig and threatens to humiliate him, but Lucy saves him from embarrassment by shooting her with a tranquilizing dart. They take Shannon home, and Gru tells Agnes that he thinks he is in love with Lucy. When he arrives at the mall the next day, the Anti-Villain League arrest Floyd Eagle-san, who protests vehemently that he was framed, after the AVL team uncovers the empty mutagen jar in his shop. Silas tells Gru that the case is now closed and that Lucy will be getting posted to Australia for work. Gru, unable to muster the courage to ask Lucy out despite deliberating for a long time, incinerates his telephone out of frustration.The family then goes to Eduardo’s party. Gru follows Eduardo and discovers that he was correct about Eduardo being the presumed-dead super-villain El Macho. Gru also discovers that Dr. Nefario has been working for Eduardo and that the duo has been capturing and mutating some of Gru’s minions into the purple-furred monsters using the stolen mutagen serum. Eduardo offers Gru a chance to conquer the world, but Gru makes unconvincing excuses and hastily leaves with the girls. Margo has also broken up with Antonio as he became interested in another girl.
For breaking her heart, Gru encases Antonio in a block of ice with his freeze-ray.Lucy, while in the plane bound for Australia, realizes that she wants to be with Gru, and jumps out to hang-glide to the party. Eduardo discovers her true identity and captures her after his chicken retrieves her AVL ID badge from her purse. Dr. Nefario calls Gru to tell him that Lucy has been captured. Gru disguises two of his minions in purple paint to escort his “captured” self into the Eduardo’s compound in a rescue attempt. Gru manages to restore the minions who were under El Macho’s control using the awful-tasting jam infused with the antidote which Dr. Nefario made and defeats El Macho. After El Macho collapses to the ground, Gru tries to untie Lucy who is strapped onto a TNT-loaded shark rocket. While attempting to do so, Eduardo’s pet chicken triggers the launch remote, sending the pair flying towards the lava-spewing volcano where El Macho faked his death. While on the rocket, Lucy accepts Gru’s date invitation before the pair dives into the safety of the ocean, just seconds before the rocket explodes. One hundred and forty-seven dates later, the two are married and the girls finally have a mother. The minions close with a rendition of “Y.M.C.A” and “I Swear” (mistakenly sung as “Underwear”) while the family dances. However, soon after the final picture is taken, a mutated purple furry minion appears, surprising the family.During the credits, 3 Minions are seen “auditioning” for the upcoming Minions movie. However, a black wall showing the credits keeps falling and blocking their way.
In February 2012, it was reported that Al Pacino had joined the cast to voice the villain, Eduardo. In April 2012, it was confirmed that Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher are returning to reprise their roles. Kristen Wiig, on the other hand, who voiced Miss Hattie in the original film, will voice Lucy Wilde, an agent of the Anti-Villain League (AVL) who recruits Gru to track and take a tough, Mexican villain named Eduardo. Steve Coogan has also joined the cast as Silas Ramsbottom, the head of the Anti-Villain League. On May 3, 2013, just two months before the film’s release, it was announced that Al Pacino had left the film over creative differences about how his character should come to life. Chris Renaud, co-director of the film, commented Pacino’s departure: “So we don’t want an unhappy actor, and we want something that is well-realized on all sides. If you don’t see eye to eye, sometimes it’s easier to (part company) and move on from there.” Benjamin Bratt, who had already been considered before Pacino, stepped in to voice Eduardo. Although, Bratt had to “match his timing exactly to the finished animation that was already in place,” Variety commended his voice work, saying “you’d never guess he wasn’t the filmmakers’ first choice.”
{loadposition ffslide}
