how many times we have seen a film’s formerly-villainous anti-hero defect from the Dark Side to join the white hat ranks for the sake of love? Is it really so wrong to find Steve Carrell’s ambiguously Eastern European baddie Gru’s rough edges further ground down by his three adopted daughters, or to replace his quest to impress a withholding mother for fears of rejection and romantic entanglements?
It still features crude and childish humor and the kind of disrespect and disobedience that might be hard for some children to resist. On the whole, though, these troubles are much less prevalent and far further afield than they were before.
I was also disappointed to see that Gru’s blonde-haired middle daughter was once again sidelined like a redheaded step-child. The oldest sibling earns more screen time, but her puppy love romantic subplot is forgotten near the end of the second act and is never resolved. Finally, the picture didn’t embrace the mystery and intrigue teased in the trailer as much as I would have liked. The script hints to the true goings-on fairly early and then never changes course. But, at least it moves at an incredible speed. It never sags and it leaves the audience wanting more. It also takes noticeable pains to avoid the more obvious pitfalls perpetuated by lesser animated films and even most romantic comedies.