As enjoyable as the first but with more laughs and a superb soundtrack

Rating: 8/10 (29 March 2014)

Having already enjoyed the original, I really wanted to see the sequel, which I'm renting out as I type. It has a slightly different plot from the original but it has more funny moments than the original as well.
The animation is just as good as that in the original with the same quirky character designs (one reviewer has previously said that Lucy looked too much like Audrey from 'The Lorax' but to me she looked quite different from her) and futuristic visuals plus some completely different backgrounds such as the shopping mall like no other and the minions' island inside a giant flask. The incidental music is similar to that in the original and Pharrell Williams's 'Fun, Fun, Fun (the song that accompanied the original's thrilling roller-coaster scene)' was used again in Agnes's birthday party scene near the beginning. Despite these musical similarities, I like Pharrell's other song 'Happy (which I heard before seeing this film due to it being a massive chart hit)' as well as Mungo Jerry's 'In The Sumnertime,' David Guetta, Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj's 'Where Them Girl's At,' Bob Marley's 'Jammin' and Pitbull's 'Don't Stop the Party' plus also the minions' hilarious renditions of 'I Swear' and 'YMCA' during the wedding scene at the end. There are also certain elements from the first that are present such as the freeze gun and the fart guns (there are more of them in this film) but I liked the fact that there were differences such as the minions becoming mutated into vicious purple creatures. All the characters from the first film are just as entertaining here while Lucy is sweet and a great companion to Gru.
Overall this is another worthy sequel to an original film with its soundtrack, animation and funny moments being its best elements. 8/10.