New ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ Trailer

And we’ll also see more of the early days of Steve Carell’s wannabe supervillain.

'Minions: The Rise of Gru' will be released on July 1st. Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures.

If you felt that 2015’s ‘Minions’ didn’t go far enough in uncovering the backstory of the squat, chattering troublemakers from the ‘Despicable Me’ movies, new sequel ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ is here to fix that.

Picking up a few years after ‘Minions’ (which you may recall ended with the creatures meeting wannabe supervillain Gru, voiced, as ever, by Steve Carell), this new movie is set in the heart of the 1970s, amid a flurry of feathered hair and flared jeans. Gru is growing up in the suburbs. And he’s the biggest fan of supervillain supergroup the Vicious 6, with a plan to become evil enough to join them.

Luckily, he gets some mayhem-making backup from his loyal followers, the Minions. Together, Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto — a new Minion sporting braces and a desperate need to please — deploy their skills as they and Gru build their first lair, experiment with their first weapons and pull off their first missions.

When the Vicious 6 oust their leader, legendary fighter Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin), Gru interviews to become their newest member. It doesn’t go well (no shock there), and only gets worse after Gru outsmarts them and suddenly finds himself the mortal enemy of the apex of evil.

On the run, Gru will turn to an unlikely source for guidance, Wild Knuckles himself, and discover that even bad guys need a little help from their friends.

This latest look at the movie offers fresh footage of Gru’s various attempts to be a supervillain, his encounters with the Vicious 6 and, from the later segments, hints of some magical powers at work, especially given the transformed Minions at the end.

The Vicious 6 is made up of a legion of famous folk, including Taraji P. Henson as Belle Bottom, Jean-Claude Van Damme as Jean Clawed, Lucy Lawless as Nunchuk, Dolph Lundgren as Svengeance and Danny Trejo as Stronghold (yes, we know that’s five – Wild Knuckles was the former sixth).

In addition to them, the cast also includes Michelle Yeoh (as a character called Master Chow, a kung fu practicing acupuncturist) and RZA, and the returning likes of Julie Andrews (playing Gru’s mother, Marlena), Russell Brand in the part of Dr. Nefario and Pierre Coffin, who as usual voices Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and other minions with their trademark babbling.

Kyle Balda, whose previous directorial career includes the first ‘Minions’, ‘Despicable Me 3’ and various short films featuring the characters, is back at the helm here, with ‘Simpsons’ veteran Dan Ableson and ‘The Secret Life of Pets 2’ Jonathan del Val as co-directors.

The ‘Despicable Me’ franchise (which expands to five movies with this latest entry), has earned more than $3.7 billion at the worldwide box office so far, and seems likely to keep rolling for a few years yet.

Originally scheduled for release in July 2021, ‘The Rise of Gru’ was shifted by Illumination and Universal to avoid the continued closure of cinemas due to the pandemic. Following a premiere at the Annecy animation festival in France on June 13, the movie will hit theaters in the States on July 1. Banana!