Minions: The Rise of Gru (also known as Minions 2) is a 2022 American computer-animated comedy film directed by Kyle Balda, co-directed by Brad Ableson and Jonathan del Val (in Ableson's feature directorial debut), and produced by Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy and Chris Renaud, from a screenplay written by Matthew Fogel, and a story by Fogel and Brian Lynch. Produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures, it is the sequel to Minions (2015), a prequel to Despicable Me (2010), and the fifth entry overall in the Despicable Me franchise. The film features Steve Carell reprising his role as Gru and Pierre Coffin as the Minions. New cast members include Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews and Alan Arkin (in his final film role before his death in June 2023). In the film, an eleven-year-old Gru plans to become a supervillain with the help of his Minions, which leads to a showdown with a malevolent team, the Vicious 6.

Plot

In 1976, an eleven-year-old Gru dreams of becoming a supervillain, assisted by the Minions, whom he has hired to work for him. Gru is ecstatic when he receives an audition invitation from the Vicious 6, a supervillain team now led by Belle Bottom, who hope to find a new member to replace their founder, the supervillain Wild Knuckles, following their betrayal and attempted murder of Knuckles during a heist to steal the Zodiac Stone – a stone connected to the Chinese zodiac. Gru's interview goes poorly but, much to the outrage of the Vicious 6, he steals the stone and escapes with Minions Kevin, Stuart, and Bob, handing it to another Minion, Otto, for safekeeping.