A satisfying sequel to a growing franchise

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2013)

I just saw this movie and I thought that it was very good. This movie is a prime example that you don't have to spend + $150 million to have great animation entertainment. This movie was on par with the first movie except for a few things.
1. I had expectations for this movie. Even though they were met, having expectations ruined the "wow" factor for me which made the first movie so memorable and enjoying.
2. Not meaning this as a bad thing, there was a lot more scenes with the minions. I personally love the minions and I can't wait for their own movie, but Gru and the girls were sidelined for a big chunk of the movie. The minions do play a critical part though in the end where they're used to be turned into an army by Eduardo which makes some sense. What made Despicable Me stand out was that the audience rooted for the bad guy, not the typical protagonist in every story. In this movie, Gru has become a good guy fighting a bad guy. This is opposite to what the plot was in the first movie and it went to sort of being a typical non-Pixar animation movie.
3. I wish that the movie had more developed the idea of Margo beginning to date. There could of have been funny encounters between Gru and Margo's crush/child of Eduardo. I could of seen the kid as a partner in crime with his dad and the movie didn't say if the kid even knew that his father was a villain in real life as well.
4. The Anti-Villain League, who fights crime on a global scale, apparently have one agent in the line of duty because that is all you see of them except there leader, Mr. Ramsbottom and a couple of guys clearing out a wig store in a mall. I thought that was weird and would of loved to explore more of the League's submarine where they could of have shown all tons of gadgets being used in training and stuff like that.
Now that I've stated all my problems with the movie, let me share what I liked. I loved Kristen Wiig's character. She was more witty than expected and I loved her relationship with Gru. The minions were hysterical as always and the same type of humor that was in the first film was present throughout the entire film. This is also funnier than the first film which was a nice bonus. It clearly shows on the screen all the fun the animators had while making the film with the characters they created. Overall, this was a very enjoyable movie to watch and I hope that you don't over think it and just laugh!