Despicable Me was the first film to kick start the Illumination studio. The franchise has had three highly rated and well-received films, with spin-off movies for the Minions, TV shows and an endless array of Facebook Meme fodder for Boomers; it has become a global phenomenon kickstarting a lot of other successful films for Illumination. After an absence of seven years, the Despicable Me main film franchise is back with the least entertaining film in the franchise that feels more like a mish-mash Tik Tok reel than a coherent film.
Since we last left Gru (Steve Carell) and Lucy (Kristen Wiig), they have had a baby boy who is the spitting image of his father with the same head, hook nose and an appetite for trouble. Together with their three adopted daughters Margot (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Madison Skyy Polan) things take a turn for the worst when a villain Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) plans on stealing Gru’s baby and turn him into a cockroach.
To counter this, the Anti Villain League, led by Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) uses some of Gru’s Minions to insert with some serum to create Megan-Minions, five superpowered Minions reminiscent of recent super-heroes from various companies like DC, Marvel and 20th Century Fox. This is just one of many sub-plots that the film shoehorns in making the whole affair seem like a TIk Tok scrolling session rather than a coherent plot that centres around the family like the previous instalments.
This, unfortunately, is the downfall of this film, the 4 different subplots don’t contribute to the main story in any meaningful way, instead, it seems intent on parodying recent franchises like superheroes, there was also Hogwarts, The Spider-Man 2 train scene, Terminator 2 in a grocery store, it’s all fare to try and keep the adults amused while the Minions carry on with their Looney Tunes-esque antics to keep the little ones happy.
The team at Illumination do deliver on the visuals in the most effective way. Which each movie they just keep raising the bar for animation, and with this film mixing the humans and minions into the real world, it is the most colourful and energetic animation they have delivered to date.
It’s a shame this film feels like a cash grab rather than an artistic choice to make a sequel to the series. The overwhelming amount of Looney Tunes like behaviour should be a green flag to Warner Bros to revive their beloved characters if the Minions can thrive in this film series (and their own!). The decision not to age any of the characters, particularly the three main girls feels like a missed opportunity to explore how they deal with puberty and the constant slew of villains who want to destroy their family unit. If you are a fan of the minions or this series in general, you may find something here. I’m sure we have not seen the last of the Mega Minions or any of these characters, hopefully the next entry in the series won’t repeat the missteps made here.
