Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Fun-filled animated craziness for everyone

11/07/2013

Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Fun-filled animated craziness for everyone

♥♥♥♥♥

One poster for Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud's Despicable Me 2 that trusts the sage wisdom that the franchise's cute and banana-esque 'minions' can sell anything

Former super villain Gru is now a full-time dad and is quietly leaving the super villain business, when the AVL (Anti Villain League) searches him down to get him to help them track down a new super villain with a world threatening new weapon. He reluctantly agrees to the job and is partnered up with agent Lucy Wilde.

Despicable Me 2 is written by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul (The Santa Clause 2 (2002), both) and directed by great French filmmaker Pierre Coffin and great Marylander filmmaker Chris Renaud (Despicable Me (2010), both). It is the sequel to the big 2010 hit, which it surpasses in quality: It has more depth to its story, more heart and more laughs. It is an animated family comedy that is as hard to resist as the cuteness of the yellow minion characters in it. The movie develops into a romance with funny takes on dating, the nerves provoked by the exercise, and on fatherly protective instincts.
The unknown new super villain in the film is to be staked out in an ... American mall, using a store as a front for his evil business. This ploy comes in handy for many laughs. It gets down to a tie between the zealous wigmaker, Floyd Eagle-san (Ken Jeong (Ride Along 2 (2016))) and the charismatic Mexican restaurant owner, Eduardo Perez. - Who of the two is the super villain who threatens world peace?
Steve Carrell (The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)) and Kristin Wiig (Bridesmaids (2010)) are back as voice stars in the movie (although Wiig now voices a different part), with Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)) still voicing Gru's funny lab-expert Doctor Nefario. Pharrell Williams (The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)) still contributes unorthodox tunes to some sequences (in collaboration with composer Heitor Pereira (Show Dogs (2018)). Despicable Me 2's team of writers and animators have keen eyes for the ridiculous and silly in most any location and situation, and the humor is a good-spirited mix of slapstick and character-driven gags. The super villain El Macho, voiced perfectly by Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality (2000)), is a prime example of this. The minion hilarity is also turned up in the follow-up to everyone's pleasure. The little yellow critters are a really good sport that appeal broadly to just about anyone.
And while the animation doesn't make one's eyeballs turn inside out in amazement, it is a very exuberant and handsome film that still pays much attention to using its 3D-side for various whoa effects.
Everyone seems to attack the fantastic universe with more confidence and spirit in this second go-around, and the result is a flourishing, marvelously entertaining time. Despicable Me 2 is a very happy, fun-filled time for the whole family.

2013 in films - according to Film Excess

Despicable Me franchise: Minions (2015) - Inocuous fun for kids (also directed by Coffin)

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Despicable Me (2010) - Renaud & Coffin's wonderfully conceptualized animation family comedy (also directed by Coffin/Renaud)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 76 mil. $
Box office: 970.7 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 12.77 times its cost)

[Despicable Me 2 premiered 16 June (Champs-Elysées Film Festival, France) and runs 98 minutes. Most of the animation took place in Paris, France. Al Pacino was cast as El Macho but left the film due to creative differences late in the process with Bratt taking over the part. The film opened #1 to an 83.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained #1 for another weekend and stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weekends (#2-#3-#5), grossing 368 mil. $ (37.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 72.2 mil. $ (7.4 %) and China with 52.9 mil. $ (5.4 %). It was the 3rd highest-grossing film of the year and the most profitable film ever in the 101 year history of Universal Pictures. The road to securing the film a release in China was very difficult (the first Despicable Me went unreleased theatrically in the market) due to the restrictive, unfair Communist legislation there. One of the world's largest airships was rented to travel 20,0000 miles (32,000 km) across the US as the 'Despicablimp', marketing the film. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Original Song (Happy by Pharrell Williams), lost to Let It Go by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez from Frozen, and Animation, also lost to Frozen. It won 1/2 BAFTA award nominations and was nominated for a Golden Globe, among many other honors. Coffin returned with Minions: Super Fans Spot (2015, short) and theatrically with Minions (2015); Renaud with The Secret Life of Pets (2016). Carell returned in a short, a TV-series and a music video prior to his theatrical return in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013). Despicable Me 2 is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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11/07/2013

Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Fun-filled animated craziness for everyone

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