Despicable Me 2 is a 2013 American animated comedy film directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, and written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. Produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, it is the second installment in the Despicable Me franchise following the 2010 film. The film stars the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Steve Coogan, and Ken Jeong. In the film, secret agent Lucy Wilde (Wiig) recruits retired supervillain Gru to investigate the theft of a powerful mutagen by an unknown criminal suspected by the latter to be El Macho (Bratt), a villain who is believed to have died decades prior.
Development of Despicable Me 2 began in 2010 following the success of the original film, with the directors, producers, and writers returning. Production was underway by February 2012, with the majority of the cast returning to voice the characters, along with new cast members, while animation services were provided by Illumination Mac Guff in France. Al Pacino was cast as the voice of El Macho, recording all of his dialogue, but left in May 2013 over creative differences; Bratt was brought in to replace Pacino, and used him as an inspiration after finding imitating his voice impossible. Heitor Pereira and Pharrell Williams returned for the sequel's music.
Despicable Me 2 premiered in Australia on June 5, 2013, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 3 by Universal Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its humor and animation. It earned $971 million worldwide, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 2013 and the most profitable film for Universal at the time. It was nominated for two awards at the 86th Academy Awards, and received numerous other accolades. A sequel, Despicable Me 3, was released in 2017.
Plot
A mysterious aircraft steals a highly potent mutagen known as PX-41 from a laboratory in the Arctic Circle. Silas Ramsbottom, director of the Anti-Villain League (AVL), sends agent Lucy Wilde to recruit former supervillain Gru. Gru refuses and informs Silas and Lucy that he has enough responsibilities as a father and as the owner of a jelly-producing business. Later, Gru's assistant Dr. Nefario is forced to retire and accept a job offer to assist another villain, which convinces Gru to work with the AVL after all. He and Lucy are stationed at a shopping center, with a cupcake store as their front.
Gru suspects that Mexican restaurant owner Eduardo Pérez might be "El Macho", a supervillain who was presumed dead twenty years ago after riding a shark into an active volcano with 250 pounds of dynamite strapped to his chest. Gru and Lucy sneak into Eduardo's restaurant but come up empty-handed, finding no proof of his villainous ways. Meanwhile, Gru's adopted daughter Agnes, who longs for a mother, is convinced that Gru will fall for Lucy—a notion he firmly denies.
Although Eduardo remains his main suspect, Gru decides to follow up on other leads, one of which takes him to the wig shop owned by Floyd Eaglesan, where Lucy finds traces of the mutagen. After witnessing Eduardo's son Antonio woo Margo, Gru renews his focus on Eduardo, who in turn invites the family to his Cinco de Mayo party. Later that day, Gru's neighbor Jillian sets him up on a blind date with her friend Shannon. The date goes awry, but Lucy saves Gru from embarrassment by tranquilizing Shannon. The two subsequently begin to bond. The following day, the AVL arrests Floyd after discovering a nearly empty jar of mutagen in his shop. Despite his protests that he’s been framed, Ramsbottom closes the investigation and reassigns Lucy to Australia, leaving Gru heartbroken.
At Eduardo's party, Gru follows Eduardo and discovers that he is indeed El Macho. Having faked his death and with Nefario as his assistant, El Macho has kidnapped most of Gru's Minions and used the mutagen to transform them into purple, mindless, indestructible monsters, intent on using them to conquer the world. El Macho offers Gru the chance to team up with him, but Gru becomes terrified and, believing that his plan to spy on El Macho worked, leaves with his daughters, including Margo, who was recently dumped by Antonio. Suspicious, El Macho sends Kevin, one of the mutated Minions, after them.
Lucy, choosing to ignore orders, heads home and arrives at the party just after Gru leaves. When El Macho learns she and Gru work for the AVL, he takes her hostage. Nefario sees this and alerts Gru, who sneaks into El Macho’s fortress with two disguised Minions, only to be attacked by mutated Minions. Meanwhile, Kevin breaks into Gru’s house to go after Margo and Agnes, but they trap him in the lab. Nefario returns with an antidote to cure Kevin’s mutation, mixes it into Gru’s jelly, and with the girls and remaining Minions, rushes to help Gru and cure the others. El Macho threatens to send Lucy into the volcano where he once faked his death, using mutagen to fight Gru. Gru defeats him with one of Lucy’s gadgets, and Nefario finishes him off with the fart gun.
Gru tries to rescue Lucy from the rocket she’s tied to while asking her out on a date, but El Macho’s pet hen, Pollito, launches it. Before it reaches the volcano, Lucy accepts Gru’s request, and they leap into the ocean to escape. Months later, after 147 dates, they marry, and Lucy becomes the girls’ adoptive mother.
Voice cast
Steve Carell as Gru, a former supervillain-turned-father and later a member of the Anti-Villain League (AVL) Kristen Wiig as Lucy Wilde, an AVL agent and Gru's love interest and later wife Benjamin Bratt as Eduardo Pérez / El Macho, the owner of Salsa & Salsa – a Mexican restaurant at Paradise Mall – and the perpetrator of the PX-41 mutagen's theft. Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario, Gru's elderly gadget man and sidekick Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, the eldest of Gru's three adopted girls Dana Gaier as Edith, the middle of the three girls Elsie Fisher as Agnes, the youngest of the three girls Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom, the director of the AVL Pierre Coffin as the Minions. According to Coffin, he lent his voice to 899 of them Ken Jeong as Floyd Eaglesan, the owner of Eagle Hair Club, a wig store at Paradise Mall Nasim Pedrad as Jillian, Gru's irritating matchmaking neighbor who wants him to date her friends Kristen Schaal as Shannon, Jillian's superficial friend Moisés Arias as Antonio Pérez, El Macho's son and Margo's love interest
Other cast members include Chris Renaud as additional Minions and an Italian waiter, Vanessa Bayer as a flight attendant, Nickolai Stoilov as the Arctic lab guards, and Young Jeezy as a rapper who raps during the submarine scene as well as the Cinco de Mayo party scene that took place at the restaurant owned by El Macho.
Production Development Development of Despicable Me 2 began following the unexpected financial success of Despicable Me (2010). In June 2011, Universal announced that the sequel would be released on July 3, 2013. Chris Meledandri, CEO of Illumination Entertainment, confirmed in February 2012 that they had started working on the film. An idea featuring the Minions with superpowers was cut, so the filmmakers decided to use the evil versions of them instead; it was later used in Despicable Me 4 (2024).
Casting In October 2011, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Javier Bardem was negotiating to voice a villain, named El Macho, but the negotiations failed and chose to play the villain in Skyfall instead. By February 2012, Al Pacino had joined the cast to voice the film's main antagonist, which would've made his first act in an animated film. In April 2012, producers confirmed that Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher were returning to reprise their roles. Kristen Wiig, who voiced Miss Hattie in the first film, voices Lucy Wilde, an agent of the Anti-Villain League who recruits Gru to track and take down a tough, Mexican villain named El Macho. Steve Coogan joined the cast as Silas Ramsbottom, the head of the Anti-Villain League.
In May 2013, producers announced that Pacino had left the film over creative differences about how his character should come to life. At the time of his departure, Pacino's character had already been fully voiced and animated. Chris Renaud, co-director of the film, commented on Pacino's departure: "So we don't want an unhappy actor, and we want something that is well realized on all sides. If you don't see eye to eye, sometimes it's easier to (part company) and move on from there." Benjamin Bratt, who had already been considered before Pacino, stepped in to voice Eduardo. Chris Meledandri, producer of the film, stated that he was not "aware of any of the major animated films of the last 15 years that has brought an actor in at such a late stage". Due to the finished animation, Bratt had to match his timing exactly to the character's mouth movement. Initially, during his five-day recording, he tried to imitate Pacino's voice, but found it impossible, saying "no one can out-Al Pacino Al Pacino". He ended up only using Pacino as an inspiration, and resolved to go with his own interpretation of the character. His work was commended by Variety, saying: "You'd never guess he wasn't the filmmakers' first choice."
Animation The animation was handled by Illumination Mac Guff in Paris using Autodesk Maya, over 400 artists worked on the sequel, in contrast to the team of 100 artists the first film required. One of the biggest challenges for the animation team was creating visual effects (such as water and jelly), which led to the crashing and replacement of some of the studio's drives.
Music
Following the success of the predecessor's music, the composers, Heitor Pereira and Pharrell Williams collaborated again for the music of Despicable Me 2. The soundtrack to the film, titled Despicable Me 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on July 2, 2013, through Back Lot Music. The album featured eight songs and 16 score tracks, combining for 24 tracks in the album. The songs consisted of three original and five incorporated tracks, and two of the songs were already featured in its predecessor.
Williams' original song "Happy" was the only single from the album, released five months after the film's release, on November 21, 2013. It was accompanied by a 24-hour music video upon release, a first for any film, which received a viral response, contributing to the song's global success. It topped the charts in over 19 countries, became the best-selling song in United Kingdom and United States, with over 1.5 and 6.45 million copies sold in 2014, and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 86th Academy Awards.
The soundtrack additionally debuted at US Billboard 200 in number 86, while also featured at the Independent Albums (number 19) and Top Soundtracks (top-three) charts. It also listed in Official Charts Company's Compilation Chart (number 48) and Soundtracks Chart (number 8). A single "Just a Cloud Away" released on March 25, 2022, eight years after the film and soundtrack release.
Marketing and release