“When the world needed a hero, they called a villain.”—Film tagline
Despicable Me 2 is a 2013 animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment for Universal Studios, the sequel to the company’s first feature film Despicable Me, and the second installment of the franchise of the same name. Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, produced Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, and written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, the film returns many of the original characters from the original film with their respective actors reprising their roles and introduces several new characters as well.
Set fourth months after the events of the first film, AVL agent Lucy Wilde recruits ex-supervillain Gru to investigate the theft of a powerful mutagen by El Macho, a supervillain who seeks to conquer the world.
A prequel film, Minions, focusing the little yellow henchmen before they met Gru, was released in 2015, while a second sequel, Despicable Me 3, was released in 2017.
Plot[]
One day, a secret laboratory in the Arctic Circle is stolen by a mysterious aircraft in the shape of a gigantic magnet. Said laboratory contains a highly potent mutagen known as PX-41, which can transform living things into evil and indestructible killing machines. The theft arouses the suspicion of the Anti-Villain League (AVL), whose director, Silas Ramsbottom, sends agent Lucy Wilde to find someone to stop the mutagen from falling into the wrong hands. To that end, she forcibly abducts former supervillain Gru to track down whoever’s responsible and recover the mutagen, but he refuses, stating that he has enough responsibilities as a devoted father to his three adoptive daughters, Margo, Edith and Agnes, and the owner of a jelly-producing business. Before he leaves, Lucy admits she was impressed by his work as a villain and gives him her card, urging him to contact her should he change his mind. Upon returning to his lab, Gru discovers that his Minion-run production line churned out an awful-tasting jelly. Additionally, Gru’s research scientist, Dr. Nefario, confesses that he misses being evil and has accepted a job offer to assist another villain. After giving Nefario a “21 fart-gun salute send-off with the Minions, a reluctant Gru decides to work with the AVL after all.
Gru contacts Lucy and agrees to investigate the theft of the mutagen. The two are partnered together and stationed at a cupcake shop at the Paradise Mall, the confines of which the PX-41’s distinct chemical signature narrows the search down to. Gru immediately suspects Mexican restauranteur Eduardo Pérez to be a former supervillain called El Macho, who supposedly met his fiery demise after skysurfing a shark into an active volcano with two hundred and fifty pounds of TNT strapped to his chest about 20 years ago. That night, he and Lucy break into Eduardo’s restaurant and narrowly escape being caught, but they find no evidence that Eduardo is the culprit. Meanwhile, Margo, Edith and Agnes, the latter of whom dreams of having a mother one day, believe that Gru has fallen in love with Lucy, which he denies, claiming that their relationship is strictly professional. Despite holding Eduardo as the prime suspect, Gru agrees to pursue other leads, such as the wig shop of Floyd Eaglesan, where Lucy discovers traces of the mutagen. However, after Gru witnesses Eduardo’s son, Antonio, woo Margo, much to his frustration, his overprotectiveness of his daughter leads him to make baseless and wild accusations to the AVL about Eduardo being El Macho and his son, which are scoffed at. At the same time, the whole family is invited to a Cinco de Mayo party at Eduardo’s residence. Later that day, Jillian, a determined matchmaking neighbor, sets a reluctant Gru up on a blind date with her rude and superficial friend Shannon. During the date, Shannon notices Gru’s wig and is about to publicly humiliate him, but Lucy saves him by shooting Shannon in the butt with a “Mild Moose Tranquilizer” dart, rendering her unconscious. The two take Shannon home and, after spending personal time with Lucy, Gru comes to realize that Agnes was right; he has fallen in love with Lucy.
The next day, the AVL arrests Floyd, who protests that he was framed, after finding a nearly empty jar of the mutagen in his shop. Ramsbottom then closes the investigation and tells Gru that Lucy will be transferred to the AVL’s Australian branch, leaving the latter heartbroken. Before she leaves, Lucy gives Gru her lipstick taser as a reminder of her. Realizing that he genuinely loves Lucy, Gru tries to muster up the courage to ask her out, but cannot bring himself to do it and finally incinerates his telephone out of frustration. That night, Gru and the girls attend the Cinco de Mayo party. Whilst there, Gru discovers that his assumption that Eduardo is El Macho was correct. Turns out he faked his death all those years ago and his new partner is none other than Dr. Nefario. Gru also discovers that the duo have been capturing the Minions and using the stolen PX-41 serum to mutate them into savage, mindless and indestructible purple monsters, intent on using them to conquer the world. El Macho offers Gru the chance to team up with him, but Gru becomes terrified, makes excuses and hastily leaves. Suspicious, El Macho sends one of the mutated Minions, Kevin, after them. Gru then heads back with the girls, but not before freezing Antonio in a block of ice as payback for him breaking Margo’s heart by dumping her for another girl.
Meanwhile, Lucy, on the plane bound for Australia, realizes that she has also fallen in love with Gru. Wanting to be him, she decides to disobey orders and returns home, making her way to the party via hang-glider shortly after Gru left. Unfortunately, Eduardo discovers she and Gru are working for the AVL and takes her captive, which is witnessed by Dr. Nefario. Unbeknownst to El Macho, Nefario subsequently informs Gru of the situation. Hearing this, Gru heads back to El Macho’s compound to rescue Lucy. While he’s gone, Agnes and Margo hear a mysterious noise outside, which scared away Gru’s dog Kyle. It is revealed to be the mutated Kevin, who breaks into the house and chases after the girls. They retreat to Gru’s laboratory, where Edith is playing Ping Pong with the remaining non-mutated Minions. When the girls are cornered by Kevin, before he can eat them, Nefario arrives and injects Kevin with a yellow-colored antidote and the Minion returns to normal. The group then come up with a plan to return all the other Minions to their normal form by mixing the antidote with a vat of the jelly Nefario created before.
Back at El Macho’s compound, Gru infiltrates the place by pretending to be captured by two mutated Minions (who are actually two normal Minions in disguise using purple paint). However, the real mutated Minions see through the ruse and give chase. Just as Gru and the two Minions find themselves hopelessly surrounded by dozens of evil Minions, Nefario and the girls arrive in the airship, spraying all of the mutated Minions with the antidote jelly and returning them to their normal state. A distraught El Macho witnesses this and, out of spite, threatens to murder Lucy by sending her into the volcano where he faked his death. He also then drinks the PX-14 serum, turning him into a strong, gigantic and hairy purple monster, and attempts to kill Gru. Gru manages to stun him using Lucy’s lipstick taser and Nefario then renders him unconscious using his fart gun. Gru then attempts to free Lucy from the rocket she’s tied to, but El Macho’s pet chicken, Pollito, triggers the launch remote, sending the pair flying towards the volcano. While on the rocket, Lucy accepts Gru’s date invitation before the pair then dive into the safety of the ocean just seconds before the rocket violently explodes.
Months later, after 147 dates, Gru and Lucy get married, making Lucy the girls’ adoptive mother. The Minions then perform a rendition of “Y.M.C.A.” as the whole family parties. As one Minion begins to take wedding photos, suddenly, one remaining Minion, still possessed by the PX-14 serum, screams at the screen as the film immediately cuts to black and comes to an end.
Songs[]
- “Fun, Fun, Fun”
- “Just a Cloud Away”
- “Happy”
- “Scream”
- “Despicable Me”
Cast[]
- Steve Carell as Gru, a former supervillain-turned father and eventual member of the Anti-Villain League (AVL).
- Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, the eldest of Gru’s three adopted girls
- Dana Gaier as Edith, the middle of the three girls
- Elsie Fisher as Agnes, the youngest of the three girls
- Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario, Gru’s elderly gadget man and sidekick
- Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud (respectively) as Kevin, Bob, Stuart, additional Minions and Evil Minions
Renaud also voices the Italian waiter
Voice cast introduced[]
- Kristen Wiig as Lucy Wilde, an AVL agent and Gru’s love interest, later wife
- Benajmin Bratt as Eduardo Pérez/El macho, the owner of “Salsa & Salsa” (a Mexican restaurant at the Paradise Mall) and the mastermind behind the theft of the PX-41 serum.
- Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom, the head of the AVL.
- Ken Jeong as Floyd Eaglesan, the owner of the Eagle Hair Club wig store at the Paradise Mall.
- Moisés Arias as Antonio Pérez, El Macho’s son and Margo’s (former) love interest.
- Nasim Pedrad as Jillian, Gru’s irritating matchmaking neighbor who wants him to date her friends.
- Kristen Schaal as Shannon, an extremely superficial friend of Jillian
Additional voices[]
- Vanessa Bayer as a flight attendant
- Nickolai Stoilov as the Arctic lab guards
External links[]
Despicable Me 2 on YouTube