Despicable Me 2
Short description
Gru has left behind his life as a supervillain to raise Margo, Edith and Agnes, the three orphan girls he adopted. His quiet new routine is interrupted when a secret organisation dedicated to fighting evil recruits him against his will. Paired with agent Lucy Wilde, Gru is sent to track down a powerful new criminal, working undercover while his old associate Dr. Nefario and the Minions lend their unpredictable help. Balancing the assignment with fatherhood proves difficult, and Lucy's interest in him outside of work unsettles the former loner.
Despicable Me 2 is an animated comedy directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud. It follows Despicable Me in both filmmakers' chronologies; for Coffin it came after Brad & Gary, and for Renaud it arrived after The Lorax. Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio wrote the screenplay, and Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy produced it for Universal Pictures and Illumination. Steve Carell returns as the voice of Gru, with Kristen Wiig as Lucy, Benjamin Bratt as Eduardo, and Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher as the girls. Thirty-nine performers and 222 crew members are credited.
Made for 76 million USD, the film took 971 million USD worldwide, a return far beyond its cost. Its reception divides along audience lines: on IMDb it holds 7.3/10 from 457,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.9/10 from 12,240 votes. A critics' rating of 6.6/10 from 184 reviews places it slightly below the IMDb audience figure. The gap suggests a broadly popular film that reviewers regarded more cautiously than cinema audiences did.
What's left behind the scenes
- All the voices of the minions in the original version belong to the film's directors, Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.
- Instead of Leonid Yarmolnik, who voiced Gru in the first part of the cartoon, the role in the Russian dubbing went to Sergey Burunov.
- In the scene where Gru tries to call Lucy and ask her on a date, the following numbers are clearly visible: 626-584-5723. If you call this number, you can hear a voicemail from Kristen Wiig as Agent Lucy Wilde.
- When Gru is inspecting the shopping mall, he sees a man inflating a balloon only to pop it and make a child cry. The crying child is the same one Gru made cry by popping a balloon at the beginning of the first film.
- When Gru first visits the Minions in the underground workshop, you can notice several Minions eating on top of a crossbeam. This scene is a tribute to the famous 1932 photograph "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper."
- Originally, Al Pacino was cast as Eduardo and even recorded his lines, but he later left the project due to creative differences. Benjamin Bratt took his place.
- At the beginning of the film, people in yellow shirts speaking a foreign language are shown. This is a nod to the original design of the Minions for the film "Despicable Me" (2010). Their final, shorter appearance came about due to the low budget of the first film.
- Javier Bardem was supposed to voice the villain, but he left the project.
- At the beginning of the film, when the magnet ship appears, one of the researchers falls and screams the 'Wilhelm scream'.
- A photo of Dr. Nefario on the beach is pinned to his workspace. The exact same photo appeared during his phone call to Gru in the first film.
- This is Illumination Entertainment's first sequel.
- In Gru's house, the petals of the flower in the painting form a biohazard symbol.
- There's a small scene in the film where Edith plays ping-pong with a Minion, but uses nunchucks instead of a paddle. This is a reference to a famous Chinese Nokia commercial featuring a man parodying Bruce Lee playing ping-pong with nunchucks.
- There are at least two Minions named Kevin. In the first film, Kevin is a one-eyed Minion, while in the sequel, Kevin is a taller Minion with two eyes.
- In the episode of Gru's battle with the chicken in El Macho's restaurant, there's a reference to the film 'Alien,' when the chicken bursts through Gru's sweater in the chest area.
- The final song of the Minions in the Russian release contains the word 'truselya' (underwear), while in the Ukrainian release it says 'u trusakh' (in underwear).
- At Gru and Lucy's wedding, the minions in white suits begin to sing the song "I Swear" by All-4-One. The members of this group were also in white suits in the music video for this song.
- In the scene where Gru infiltrates El Macho's base, pretending to be captured by two mutated minions who are actually covered in icing, there is a reference to the film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978), when one of the minions realizes what is happening.
- The scene where Gyu is looking at a painting in the wig shop, performing characteristic movements, is a reference to the full-length film "Mr. Bean" (1997), which features a similar moment.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
