“Despicable Me 2”, a Hollywood animated film, painted by French animators, is running in cinemas now. It competes for world domination – at least in the field of the income collected in box offices.
Felonious supervillain Gru, who speaks with a heavy Slavic accent, but looks as a vulnerable French intellectual, has finally moved to the side of the good. He has three adopted daughters, a respectable business of producing jelly and a good reputation in the suburbs: for the sake of his girls the sociopath arranges parties and feasts. However, deep inside the character is still unhappy.
The jam business does not go that well because devoted Dr. Nefario can make weapons of mass destruction even from berries.
More and more often, the daughters ask the question when they will have a mother – but Gru has even more problems with relations than doctor Horrible from the famous web series.
Fortunately, an unknown villain uses a flying magnet to steal a Russian polar station on the other side of the world. The station was used to develop a serum that could turn anyone into a fanged monster. Whoever gets hold of it will rule the world.
That is why a pretty and silly girl from the Anti-Villain League comes to Gru’s house and suggests catching the criminal together.
The first series of the super-successful French cartoon, filmed under the control of the U.S. Universal company, was quite a dramatic story about a domestic opposition of the male ego. The logic of the main character was simple: if his neighbor stole the Great Pyramid, he would have to steal the moon, or he would be a goof.
Gru reached the final of the meaningless race with his head held high, adopted three orphans and became a good citizen.
The second part does not have such a powerful conflict: it is clear that the next step of the settled down villain would be to find a bride, and there is only one candidate in the cartoon. But the simple plot gives scope for abstract jokes, and in this respect “Despicable Me” is second to none among cartoons.
Gru’s charming yellow-bellied minions perform a gay anthem of YMCA, dance frivolously, sing a ballad about pants, dress up as French maids and tweet on some hilarious language.
Charismatic El Macho parodies all sorts of clichés from American comic books and stereotypes about Mexican passions. Local intelligence mock at “Bondiana.” Homages to Hitchcock, the classic science fiction, the “500 Days of Summer” are scattered all over the cartoon. There are a few unobtrusive jokes about fascism. Boring characters of people are surrounded by incredible living creatures.
In the U.S. and Europe, the “Despicable Me” cartoon has collected $753 million during the summer, and the only thing that prevents it from repeating the billion-dollar success of the “Toy Story 3D” is a ban on its demonstration in China.