If you have kids, then you have probably seen these films. I have to admit, of all the animated films that are out these days, this one feels targeted for the younger children. However, like Disney and/or Pixar films, a lot of these films have a lot of adult appeal.

At least, the first one does. I wasn’t planning on seeing it with my kids when it first came out, but I started hearing good things about it and took a chance. I would have to say that the first one is a good movie, but it isn’t necessarily a gem. Don’t get me wrong, I think this film will stand through the test of time, but a lot of its appeal is an homage to works that have gone before it.

For example, the main character, Gru, is your typical movie villain. He is part James Bond mastermind mixed with Boris Badenov from Rocky and Bullwinkle. This is probably where the German/Russian accent that Steve Carell provides. The films present a world where villains do cartoonish schemes with fantastic technology, like stealing national monuments and the like. In other words, what they are doing is wrong, but no one really gets hurt.

In the first film, Gru is a villain who plots to steal the moon. There really isn’t any motivation as to why he wants to do that. There is a hint that Gru had a bad childhood from a mother that he couldn’t really impress, but this isn’t covered too deeply. In fact, there isn’t any scene in the two films where Gru’s mother regrets her neglectful attitude toward him. This is a real surprise, as she is voiced by Julie Andrews, for crying out loud.

Anyway, Gru apparently needs a shrink-ray to steal the moon, and this is one of several inventions pulled from cartoons. All of the machinery in these films feel pulled from the Acme factory where Wile E. Coyote orders his gadgets to kill that elusive Road Runner. They have been given a modern CG makeover that feels welcome in this post-Looney Tunes era.

There is a lot of suspending of disbelief in this film as well. For example, another villain in the film, Vector, steals a pyramid, and he “hides” it in his backyard. It is pretty filmsy hiding as he just paints it blue to camouflage with the sky. Surely this would be visible at night, or on a cloudy day. Also, does anyone seem to want to stop Vector, or any one of the villains in this film? For some reason, the ordinary people just let them be bad.

Anyway, Vector has this shrink ray, and the only way that Gru can get it from him is by adopting three girls who are selling him cookies. Yeah, this is a pretty weak reason for this superbad man to become a superdad. In case you are wondering, I stole that last sentence from the tagline for the film. There are several ways that Gru could steal the shrink ray without involving these little girls, but the real plot of this film is how a bad guy becomes good.

This is a plot we have seen before. In Lilo and Stitch, the alien programmed for destruction gets a heart for goodness with the love of a little girl. In this case, Gru has three little girls, so you know he is destined to have a heart by the end of the film.

In fact, everything wraps up so well by the end of the first film that you wonder why a sequel was made. The answer is simple: money. Despicable Me 2 is definitely a step down for this new movie franchise, but it isn’t so bad that it will kill it.

The sequel has Gru playing the role of a spy hero. This is actually a good reason for a sequel, and there is also a love interest as Gru meets a quirky female spy named Lucy, who works for this anti-villain spy organization. I can’t help but wonder where this anti-villain organization was in the first film. It’s about time we saw some heroes and not just villains.

As for the villain of this second film, I was hoping it would be Vector or the big shot in charge of the Bank of Evil from the first film. These two were related, and it sort of looked like they were preparing for this in the first film. Instead, they invented this new villain that just really isn’t very interesting.

The second film also gives a greater role to the Minions. The Minions are clearly the toy-value of this film. They are cute and numerous, and they speak in gibberish. In short, they are the Ewoks of this film series. The Minions aren’t always funny, and they have a lot of screen time. In the first film, there is a scene I call “Minions go shopping” that feels like a deleted scene as it just doesn’t add anything to the overall plot. There are a lot more of these scenes in the second film.

In short, I do recommend watching the Despicable Me series, but I don’t think much more can be done with it. This is one of those franchises that will probably be drawn out with needless sequels, like the Ice Age movies or other related kid fare. Again, much of it isn’t original, but the mixture of conventions and homages feels fresh enough.