Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to help deal with a powerful new super criminal.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Gru (voice): Steve Carell
• Lucy (voice): Kristen Wiig
• Eduardo ‘El Macho’ Pérez (voice): Benjamin Bratt
• Margo (voice): Miranda Cosgrove
• Dr. Nefario (voice): Russell Brand
• Floyd Eagle-san (voice): Ken Jeong
• Silas Ramsbottom (voice): Steve Coogan
• Agnes (voice): Elsie Fisher
• Edith (voice): Dana Gaier
• Antonio Pérez (voice): Moisés Arias
• Jillian (voice): Nasim Pedrad
• Shannon (voice): Kristen Schaal
• Kevin / Bob / Stuart / Additional Minions / Evil Minions (voice): Pierre Coffin
• Additional Minions / Evil Minions / Italian Waiter (voice): Chris Renaud
• Arctic Lab Guards (voice): Nickolai Stoilov
• Flight Attendant (voice): Vanessa Bayer
• Additional Voices (voice): Ava Acres
• Additional Voices (voice): Lori Alan
• Additional Voices (voice): Jack Angel
• Additional Voices (voice): Eva Bella
• Additional Voices (voice): Georgia Cook
• Additional Voices (voice): John Cygan
• Additional Voices (voice): Debi Derryberry
• Additional Voices (voice): Jess Harnell
• Additional Voices (voice): Danny Mann
• Additional Voices (voice): Mona Marshall
• Additional Voices (voice): Mickie McGowan
• Additional Voices (voice): Mason McNulty
• Additional Voices (voice): Alec Medlock
• Additional Voices (voice): Laraine Newman
• Additional Voices (voice): Jan Rabson
• Additional Voices (voice): Andre Robinson
• Additional Voices (voice): Katie Silverman
• Additional Voices (voice): Casey Simpson
• Additional Voices (voice): Claira Nicole Titman
• Additional Voices (voice): Jim Ward
• Additional Voices (voice): April Winchell

Film Crew:

• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Tom Johnson
• Producer: Christopher Meledandri
• Character Designer: Carter Goodrich
• Sound Effects Editor: E.J. Holowicki
• Associate Producer: Robert Taylor
• Supervising Sound Editor: Dennis Leonard
• Color Timer: Jim Passon
• Casting: Carla Hool
• Editor: Gregory Perler
• Screenplay: Ken Daurio
• Screenplay: Cinco Paul
• Conductor: Nick Glennie-Smith
• Original Music Composer: Heitor Pereira
• Production Design: Yarrow Cheney
• Producer: Janet Healy
• Animation: Fabrice Joubert
• Director: Pierre Coffin
• Director: Chris Renaud
• Thanks: Chihiro Kameyama
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Gary Rizzo
• Production Manager: David Rosenbaum
• Script Supervisor: Brett Hoffman
• Songs: Pharrell Williams
• Color Designer: Colin Stimpson
• Art Direction: Eric Guillon
• Set Designer: Olivier Adam
• Color Designer: Sergio Casas
• Set Designer: Christoph Charriton
• Color Designer: Gregory Georges
• Color Designer: Clément Griselain
• Set Designer: Paul Mager
• Storyboard: Wilbert Plijnaar
• Set Designer: Loïc Rastout
• Prop Maker: Philippe Tilikete
• ADR & Dubbing: Roni Pillischer
• Sound Recordist: Paul Tirone
• Technical Supervisor: Cédric Chapeleau
• Animation: Jonathan del Val
• Supervising Animator: Jean Hemez
• Storyboard: Matthew Nealon
• First Assistant Editor: Dave Cory
• Animation Director: Bruno Dequier
• ADR Supervisor: Bjorn Ole Schroeder
• Foley: Sean England
• Music Editor: Slamm Andrews
• First Assistant Editor: Andrew Walton
• Additional Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Christopher Scarabosio
• Sound Effects Editor: Mac Smith
• Post Production Supervisor: Jeannine Berger
• Animation: Mael Gourmelen
• Foley Editor: Erik Foreman
• Dialect Coach: Julie Adams
• Animation Director: Pierre Leduc
• Sets & Props Artist: Nicolas Valade
• Animation: Laurent Rossi
• Lighting Artist: Catherine Catie Lee
• Animation: Patrick Delage
• Lighting Artist: Yannick Lecoffre
• Supervising Animator: Julien Soret
• Editor: Claire Dodgson
• Additional Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Christopher Barnett
• Sound Effects Editor: Jonathan Borland
• Sound Recordist: Kevin Globerman
• Foley Editor: Frank Rinella
• Foley: Ronni Brown
• Score Engineer: Alan Meyerson
• CG Supervisor: Bruno Chauffard
• Editorial Coordinator: Tyler Werrin
• CG Supervisor: Boris Jacq
• Animation: Benoit Bargeton
• Orchestrator: Ladd McIntosh
• Animation: Alexandre Ronco
• Production Supervisor: Jean-Luc Florinda
• Animation Supervisor: Laurent de la Chapelle
• Animation: Daniel Callaby
• Animation: Audrey Fobis
• Animation: Silke Jager
• Associate Editor: Gilad Carmel
• Lighting Artist: Anthony Voisin
• Color Designer: Jason Hanel
• Lighting Artist: Vincent Blanqué
• Lighting Artist: Cédric Burkarth
• Lighting Artist: Ephraïm Drouet
• Lighting Artist: Benoit Fournol
• Supervising Animator: Pierre Avon
• Supervising Animator: Nicolas Bauduin
• Lighting Artist: Elodie Labbe
• Supervising Animator: François-Xavier Bologna
• Supervising Animator: Emmanuel Vergne
• Supervising Technical Director: Etienne Pêcheux
• Thanks: Eric Garandeau
• Thanks: Daniel Pool-Kolb
• Thanks: Agnès Reault
• Thanks: Igor Primault
• Sound Recordist: Kevin Bolen
• Software Engineer: Julien Frantz
• Software Engineer: Marc Girou
• Software Engineer: Thierry Lauthelier
• Software Engineer: Frédéric Cros
• Software Engineer: Ludovic Lefève-Gourmelon
• Software Engineer: Benoit Lepage
• Software Engineer: Geoff Levner
• Software Engineer: Baptiste Sansierra
• Software Engineer: Alexandre Verlhac
• Software Engineer: Mélissa Faucher
• Software Engineer: Sébastien Masino
• Software Engineer: Thomas Métais
• Sets & Props Supervisor: Alexandra Skinazi
• Sets & Props Artist: Thibault Collonges
• Sets & Props Artist: Hortense Goyard
• Sets & Props Artist: Elodie Hickson
• Sets & Props Artist: Gilles Roman
• Sets & Props Artist: Angela Smaldone
• Sets & Props Artist: Aurélien Hulot
• Sets & Props Artist: Cyril Thauvain
• Sets & Props Artist: Franck Clarenc
• Sets & Props Artist: Grégoire Foret
• Sets & Props Artist: Jérémie Mamo
• Sets & Props Artist: Ludovic Ramière
• Set Dresser: Laura Giardini
• Set Dressing Supervisor: Axelle De Cooman
• Lighting Supervisor: Nicolas Brack
• Lighting Coordinator: Charles Seignolle
• Lighting Artist: Démian Boude
• Lighting Artist: Florent Cadel
• Lighting Artist: Jérôme Cordier
• Lighting Artist: Thomas Dairain
• Lighting Artist: Bertrand De Becque
• Lighting Artist: John Hreich
• Lighting Artist: Romain Silva Macedo
• Lighting Artist: Mickael Mandonnet
• Lighting Artist: Jean-Pierrick Muggianu
• Lighting Artist: Victor Pajot
• Lighting Artist: Olivier Prigent
• Lighting Artist: Julien Rocchi
• Lighting Artist: Arnaud Servouze
• Lighting Artist: Arnaud Tisseyre
• Lighting Artist: Christophe Brejon
• Lighting Artist: Loïc Salmon
• Master Lighting Artist: Lionel Cuendet
• Master Lighting Artist: Sophie Guillois
• Master Lighting Artist: Thierry Noblet
• Master Lighting Artist: Max Tourret
• Master Lighting Artist: Damien Viatte
• Master Lighting Artist: Selim Draïa
• Finance: George Hiro Herrmann
• Finance: Julie Virgile
• Editorial Coordinator: Céline Le Barbenchon
• Color Designer: Julien Badoil
• Animation Department Coordinator: Thomas Laffin
• Animation: Benjamin Tussiot
• Animation: Steve Alves
• Animation: Hichem Arfaoui
• Animation: Salem Arfaoui
• Animation: Arnaud Berthier
• Animation: Cécile Brossette
• Animation: Antoine Collet
• Animation: Simon Cuisinier
• Animation: Luc Dégardin
• Animation: Christophe Delisle
• Animation: Axel Digoix
• Animation: Pierre-François Duhamel
• Animation: Damien Duprat
• Animation: Gabriel Gelade
• Animation: Nicolas Gibut
• Animation: Jean-Charles Gonin
• Animation: Adeline Grange
• Animation: Benoit Guillaumot
• Animation: Basile Heiderscheid
• Animation: Sebastien Kunert
• Animation: Vincent Le Ster
• Animation: Vincent Lemaire
• Animation: Alexandre Xiaoguang Li
• Animation: Adrien Soyty Liv
• Animation: Gaël Matchabelli
• Animation: Gwénolé Oulc’hen
• Animation: Yohan Pelladeaud
• Animation: Yung Pham
• Animation: Boris Plateau
• Animation: Patrick Pujalte
• Animation: Claude Ricros
• Animation: Ludovic Roz
• Animation: Gaël Sabourin
• Animation: Corentin Sacré
• Animation: Ludovic Savonnière
• Animation: Damien Zeelen
• Animation: Guillame Dhont
• Animation: Guillaume Hérent
• Animation: Mathieu Ménard
• Animation: Vincent Devay
• Animation Supervisor: Céline Roz-Locatelli

Movie Reviews:

• Matt Golden: Three years ago, Despicable Me launched Illumination Entertainment and announced Universal Studios as a viable player in the animation game (only Disney/Pixar and DreamWorks used to show up to these box-office battles). The film wasn’t even the only supervillain animation to hit the theaters that year, but it did one-up its rival Megamind both in critical acclaim and commercial success.

  Now, the original film’s creative team returns with Despicable Me 2, continuing the adventures of former supervillain-cum-adopted father Gru, his precocious daughters Margo, Edith, and Agnes, and his little, yellow, nonsense-spouting minions. Following closely on the first film’s heels (this film gratifyingly puts a premium on continuity), the now-retired Gru is settling into his new paternal role, and while the spikier parts of his personality remain, he’s reshaped himself into an adoring father and potential purveyor of jams (and jellies). When an evil plot threatens the globe, however, Gru finds himself pulled back into the supervillain game by the Anti-Villain League, who’ve recruited him to be the hero, an ersatz spy who knows how the mystery bad guy thinks. One earnest and delightfully overbearing partner introduction later, the pair (Gru and newbie AVL agent Lucy Wilde, played by Kristen Wiig) are undercover as bakers in a strip mall where the bad guy’s scheme is likely to go down.

  Despite the world being threatened, the stakes feel surprisingly low in the film; the archness of the plot never feels as real or immediate as the character interactions, which are enjoyable all the way through. Here, Gru realizes his loneliness, his neophyte partner realizes her true calling, and his daughters come to grips with new realizations and wishes. The characters take center stage, rarely letting the transparently-raised stakes of the plot machinations get in the way of sitcom-like character arcs such as the eldest daughter dating (and Gru’s dogged insistence on undermining it) or little Agnes wanting a new mother. But that’s sort of the magic of these films; despite the plot beats being the stuff of basic sitcoms, the setting and characters manage to still make the film a winning combination.

  Steve Carell dusts off the strange Eastern European accent he originated for Gru, and manages to be both an amusing character and his own straight man. Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Elsie Fisher embody adorableness as the girls. But it’s Wiig who steals the show as Agent Wilde, a professional woman who is also goofy and personable. Wiig and Carell have fantastic chemistry, even with just their voices in play.

  The minions, those little yellow blobs in overalls that accompany all of the film’s publicity, are back and hilarious as ever, despite their laser-like focus on slapstick and complete lack of intelligible dialogue. The Despicable films seem to be two separate animation genres welded together: the first is a heartfelt, Pixarian meditation on the nature of family, but the second is the part with the minions, which embody the anarchic spirit of the Looney Tunes more successfully than any of their predecessors. It’s a strange melange that shouldn’t work, but dammit, it does, and the resulting films wound up being both moving and guffaw-inducing.

  The other aspect of the Despicable films that bowls me over is the virtual cinematography; truly, alongside the best of Pixar’s output (like Wall-E), these are some of the most beautiful animated films ever made. The use of color, depth, and art are stunning, from Gru’s Charles Addams-inspired design to the beautiful play of light, shadow, and color. This sequel follows the high standards of the first, and the result is a feast for the eyes.

  The bottom line is that like the first film, this one is a trifle, but a very enjoyable one. It’s little more than a victory lap for Carell and company, but when there are characters you can enjoy this much, what’s wrong with spending another couple of hours with them?