Extra Cinema: Despicable Me 2

Directors: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud.

DIRECTORS Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud deliver more warm-hearted thrills and slapstick spills in the action-packed sequel to their delightful 2010 adventure.

Despicable Me 2 doesn’t quite attain the dizzy heights of the original and lacks some of the emotion of Gru’s journey from arch-villain to surrogate father.

Young audiences won’t care a jot though, because the action sequences are bigger, including a James Bond-style opening sequence over the Arctic Circle, and the humour is just as silly.

Despicable Me 2 begins shortly after events of the original with Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) living in unconventional domestic bliss with his girls Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher).

When a new threat to global peace emerges, Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) from The Anti-Villain League stuns Gru with her lipstick taser and pressgangs him into working for the good guys.

Despicable Me 2 inspires a few paternal oohs and aahs as Gru navigates the road bumps of parenthood.

The romantic subplot 
between the supposedly unlovable reformed villain and Lucy is predictable but sweet, and the rest of the script follows a similarly linear trajectory.

A gooey romantic coda, replete with hilarious musical accompaniment from the Minions that turns back the clock to 1994, is the icing on a delicious, if familiar, cake.

Rating: 7/10