Review: 'Despicable Me 2', Starring Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig

Give the animated geniuses at Illumination credit for not resting on the success of 2010's Despicable Me. They easily could have just piled on more of those madcap Minions everybody loves and called it a day, but there's actually a real attempt to move some of these characters into a forward in Despicable Me 2 , while still keeping the snappy humor and sentimental touches its fans love. That said, the Minions totally own this party.

Shedding his supervillain tendencies completely, Gru (Steve Carell) has now settled into a comfortable home life with his three adopted daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove),Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher), along with his gang of Minions and an unfulfilled Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand). Rather than building weapons of destruction and plotting evil schemes, they're running a jelly company to pay the bills, while Gru fights off the romantic advancements of his neighbors. With no villains or heroes to fight, Gru's greatest challenge now is keeping his girls in line, and boys out of their lives completely.

Their simple life is uprooted in crimson-haired fashion when Gru is suddenly kidnapped by frantic super-agent Lucy Wilde, a member of the Anti-Villain League who needs his help to stop a new foe wreaking havoc with giant electromagnets. Gru has an idea it could be Eduardo (Benjamin Bratt), the owner of a festive Mexican restaurant located in a shopping mall full of potential suspects. Eduardo bears a striking resemblance to a legendary Luchadore-themed villain named El Macho, but the real reason for Gru's suspicion is that Margo is head over heels in love with his dashing son (Moises Arias).

Romance is definitely in the air as Gru and Lucy awkwardly bumble into natural relationship, and the writers are smart enough to realize the impact this would have on all involved. Hilarious and poignant flashbacks clue us in to Gru's past woes with the ladies, and we also see that the prospect of a woman in his life changes everything for his daughters. Because this is an animated comedy, there's the tendency to overcompensate on the emotional side, and the sweetness gets laid on a little thick.

Carell probably doesn't get enough credit for his expressive voice work, but he really is the glue that holds everything together. As good as Carell is, Wiig may be even better as the geeky and tenacious Lucy Wilde. She brings an obvious energy and enthusiasm to the performance, and helps make Wilde a character we want to see more of. The Minion's wonky pseudo-English is always good for a laugh, and when paired up with their cartoonishly violent antics make for a deadly funny combination. As the unquestioned breakouts of the franchise, in line for their own self-titled spinoff, there's a concerted effort to put them into the spotlight with comic musical skits. Some work, some don't, but there can never truly be enough of the Minions, can there? Of course not, and we get their unique brand of insanity all the way through a brilliant 3D closing credits sequence worth a few extra dollars all by itself.

Sweet, funny, and with an amazing level of character and visual detail, Despicable Me 2 is deserving of a 21 Fart Gun salute.