Yes, I am a grown man. An overgrown man at that. But I haven’t been as excited about an animated movie sequel since Toy Story 2, which came out when I was still a child and it was okay for me to be excited for animated sequels. But yesterday, Universal Pictures released their third, and first full trailer for Despicable Me 2 (the first being a teaser released over a year ago, featuring the Minions doing a fantastic rendition of the Beach Boy’s Barbara Ann.
The second also centered on the Minions partaking in all sorts of zaniness, from spoofing Halloween to one in a maid’s outfit shaking it’s posterior).
By the looks of the trailer, it seems like the new movie will start off relatively soon after the events of the first Despicable Me, with Gru (voiced by the returning and hilarious Steve Carell) and his three adopted daughters Margo, Edith and Agnes. In what looks like what could be the opening scenes of the movie, Gru is ambushed by Agent Lucy Wilde of the Anti-Villain League (voiced by Kristen Wiig, who voices Miss Hattie) and is taken along with two Minions trying to save him to the AVL’s secret underwater lair.
There we meet the League’s director, Silas Ramsbottom (yes, I giggled). As a former villain, Gru is being recruited by the League to thwart a new as-yet unnamed villain, who will be voiced by Mr. Al Pacino. AL-FREAKING-PACINO.
With much of the main cast returning, including Russell Brand voicing Dr. Nefario (whose character, to me, was gold in the first movie) and Miranda Cosgrove returning as Margo. Also listed in the credits is Ken Jeong (The Hangover Trilogy, Community), who at the moment is a character to be announced, but should provide extra comedy in what should be a fantastic sequel to one of my favorite movies of 2010.
In what should be a continuation of the entertainment value of the first Despicable Me, I expect nothing but great laughs from this sequel, from Steve Carell’s unknown eastern European-accented delivery, to what should be tons of animated slapstick comedy from those hysterical Minions. Sure, it’s billed as a family movie, and if you need to drag one of your little siblings or cousins to the theater as an excuse, then so be it. But there should be no shame in seeing this while it’s in theaters.
Despicable Me 2 will be in theaters nationwide July 3rd. Check out the full exclusive trailer here from Apple.
