Sometimes the best way to track down a bad guy is to be a bad guy yourself. No longer trying to steal the moon or commit other villainous acts,  Gru (Steve Carell) has settled into his new role as adoptive father in a suburban setting quite well in Despicable Me 2. But given his supervillainous past and his seemingly less malicious new demeanor, it’s no surprise to anyone but Gru himself when the Anti-Villain League comes calling to recruit him to their undercover cause. Reluctant to leave his daughters (and possibly slip into his heelish old habits), Gru realizes he should join the AVL when Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) decides he’s tired of making fart guns and inedible jams (his new job now that Gru is a good guy) in Gru’s lab and wants to get back to something a little more evil.

Much to the delight of the adorable unicorn-loving Agnes (Elsie Fisher), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Gru is paired up with slinky AVL agent Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) who admires more than just his former talents as a villain. In the guise of two cupcake shop employees, Lucy and Gru start spying on the other tenants of the local shopping mall in hopes of figuring out which one is responsible for using a giant magnet to steal some sort of super soldier serum (and the entire lab in which it was created) that turns anyone’s Jekyll into a Hyde-like monstrosity. When the owner of the Mexican restaurant suspiciously stops by to welcome the new cupcake shop to the mall, Gru’s gut tells him that this man is actually El Macho (Benjamin Bratt), a luchador mask-wearing desperado who is so manly he is said to have died while riding a shark loaded with explosives into an erupting volcano.

Gru is convinced that El Macho is also the man they are looking for, but the AVL thinks otherwise and takes someone else into custody. With the case closed, Lucy is set to be relocated to Australia for her next assignment, leaving Gru with the horrific realization that his cold heart might actually be beating for Lucy. Meanwhile, Gru’s pill-shaped yellow minions are gradually being abducted as test subjects for the stolen serum, which turns the jovial fellows into frizzy-headed purple monsters. Still determined to prove that El Macho is alive and behind all this mayhem, Gru is faced with the additional obstacles of reuniting with the woman he has feelings for and rescuing his missing minions (all while maintaining his regular fatherly duties). But if anyone can save the day it’s going to be the guy who saved the world from total destruction in the last movie.

With his remaining minions, his new girlfriend and his cheerleading children (as well as the unexpected help of an old friend), this villain-turned-hero has an adventurous romp that’s just as hilarious as the first Despicable Me. Even through their animated avatars, the comedic chemistry between the actors is apparent and the writing is delightfully entertaining. And it’s a good thing good guy Gru was once bad; otherwise he may not have the necessary instincts to find the real villain and save the damsel (and minions) in distress.

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