Despicable Me 2

A little while back, I favorably reviewed Despicable Me, and have now had a chance to see the inevitable 2013 sequel, Despicable Me 2, which is just as much fun. Former arch-villian Gru, now a devoted father, is recruited to join the Anti-Villain League. He and his partner, Lucy, succeed in finding the bad guy despite his secret identity. Unfortunately, a number of Gru's minions are kidnapped in the process, and they must be saved, too. And, because this is a fairy tale, Lucy and Gru fall in love. As much fun as the original, with Steve Carell continuing to display his breadth as the voice of Gru, Kristen Wiig hilariously playing Lucy, and Benjamin Bratt as the bad guy, El Macho.

(And I note from IMDb, it looks like the Minions are set to have their own movie.)

Enchanted

I finally had a chance to see Enchanted, Disney's 2007 movie about a cartoon princess who through the usual evil stepmother intervention ends up in our flesh-and-blood reality, dropped into New York City. Amusement and true love ensue, including a production number in Central Park which shares some moves with a Disneyland character parade, complete with calypso drummers and somersaulting ConEd repairmen.  Amy Adams (in an early role) plays the princess. Susan Sarandon as the real-life evil stepmother is pretty funny. And the bit in which our princess summons the woodland creatures to help clean the apartment by singing out the window is a wonderful riff on a classic fairytale cartoon meme: this is New York, so rats, pigeons, and cockroaches appear to help.

Despicable Me

Despicable Me (2010) is just delightful. Our archvillian Gru needs to defeat a new bad guy, Vector, in order to steal the Moon. A step in his plan is to adopt three orphan girls. Unfortunately, he becomes more attached to them than as just a means to his end. Things begin to go bad when Vector kidnaps them, and the shrink ray which is necessary to steal the moon acts oddly. And, of course, from there it gets silly and heartwarming. Not the quality of animation we've been spoiled into expecting by Pixar (since it's from Illumination, instead) but still quite good. Lovely voice acting by Steve Carell and Russell Brand, and by the three girls, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Elsie Fisher.