 Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two and a half stars out of four , saying " Steve Carell 's Slavic inflections as Gru do the trick , as before . Wiig 's clever hesitations and comic timing help save the day . " Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review , saying " The new edition doesn 't quite catch that inspired spark . " Stephen Whitty of The Star @-@ Ledger gave the film three out four stars , saying " Not only a fun cartoon but – that rare thing – a sequel which actually improves on the original . " Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News gave the film two out of five stars , saying " Armed with masses of minions and an excess of adorability , Despicable Me 2 is guaranteed to charm anyone who 's out of school and already bored . " Soren Anderson of The Seattle Times gave the film two and a half stars out of four , saying " It 's fun . It 's cheerful . It 's lollipop colorful . Best of all , it features lots of minion mischief , which guarantees plenty of laughs . But what it doesn 't have is an edge . " Peter Howell of the Toronto Star gave the film two and a half stars out of four , saying " It feels at times as if Despicable Me 2 actually is The Minions Movie . Coffin and Renaud and returning screenwriters Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio haven 't managed to come up with a dastardly plot to rival the shrinking and stealing of the moon from the previous film . " 
