Annie Auerbach - Despicable Me

Finally , after the dance class detour, Gru gets the girls back in the van to begin his master plan to steal back the Shrink Ray. He parks down the street from Vector’s fortress and begins to stack cookie boxes in a wagon on the sidewalk. The girls change into their clothes and join him.

“Our first customer is a man named Vector,” Gru says.

Margo looks at her order form. “But he’s a V . We’re supposed to start with the A ’s, then we go to the B ’s, then we go to the—”

“Yes, yes,” interrupts Gru. “I went to kindergarten. I know how the alphabet works!” Realizing he’s being too harsh, Gru quickly softens and says, “I was just thinking that it might be nice to deliver Mr. Vector’s first, that’s all.”

The girls nod and make their way down the sidewalk toward Vector’s fortress.

Gru suppresses a smile and repeats to himself, “It’s almost over…. It’s almost over.” He goes inside the back of the van and watches the girls on a video screen.

The girls enter the gate, and Vector greets them at the front door. “Ah, girls, welcome back to the Fortress of Vectortude.” He laughs and then leads them inside.

Margo consults her order form as Edith and Agnes put Vector’s twenty-three boxes of cookies on the counter, including the Coconutties box with the robotic cookies in it. Inside the van, Gru launches Cookie Robot software on his computer so he can control the robotic cookies.

“That will be fifty-two dollars,” Margo tells Vector.

Vector zips open his fanny pack and looks for money. He doesn’t notice that twelve robotic cookies are climbing out of the box and scampering across the counter behind him.

The cookies quickly run a scan of the house and locate the Shrink Ray in a vault. They leap off the counter and scurry down the hall. They form a ladder to reach the security panel beside the vault and then shut down Vector’s security system.

The vault door slowly opens, revealing the Shrink Ray. The Cookie Robots happily high-five each other. But they can’t carry the Shrink Ray out the front door—they are too small! Gru, of course, knows that. So he instructs them to go to the far side of the vault and burn a hole in the wall. Gru and two minions climb in through the hole.

Meanwhile, Vector counts out the money and hands it to Margo.

“Why are you wearing your pajamas?” Agnes asks him.

“These are not pajamas. This is a warm-up suit,” Vector answers, slightly annoyed. He leads the girls out, with no idea of the Shrink Ray robbery happening in his own home.

But the robbery hits a snag. While Gru and his minions struggle to lift the heavy Shrink Ray case, the Cookie Robots accidentally seal up the hole in the wall. They’re all trapped inside!

Stuck inside Vector’s fortress, Gru has to think fast. He orders the minions to help him lift the heavy Shrink Ray into an air duct. One minion grabs the other minion and shakes him until he glows. Now they have light in the duct! The threesome crawls through the air duct, dragging the Shrink Ray behind them.

To his relief, Gru spots a way out ahead. But he never makes it there. Since the Shrink Ray is so heavy, they all fall through a weak spot in the floor of the duct, and through the ceiling of Vector’s living room! They dangle dangerously above Vector, who is watching TV. Although Vector is oblivious to what’s going on above him, his pet shark is not so clueless. Swimming beneath the glass floor, the shark notices the tender morsel above that is Gru.

The shark lunges, striking the glass hard.

“What the…?” Vector wonders. “Quiet down, fish.”

THUMP! The shark strikes the glass again, causing the whole room to shake. Gru and his minions are knocked from their position—but so is Vector, who ends up with his head in a bucket of snacks. He never sees Gru and the minions make a break for it. They don’t want to be the shark’s lunch!

Gru meets the girls back by the van. He hurries them inside.

“But what about all the other people who ordered cookies?” Margo asks.

“Life’s full of disappointments… for some people,” Gru replies, and begins driving.

At that moment, Agnes sees something out the window and screams. Gru swerves as he tries to figure out what is wrong.

“Super Silly Fun Land!” Agnes explains, pointing to the amusement park. “Can we go? Please?”

The other girls join in. “Please? We’ll never ask for anything else ever again!”

Gru stares at the girls, then smiles as a plan forms in his head. “Okay,” he says finally.

He leads them into the amusement park and watches as they climb into a roller coaster car.

“Come on,” Edith calls to him.

Gru shakes his head. “Good-bye! Have fun!”

A park worker turns to Gru and says, “Sorry, dude, they can’t ride without an adult.”

“What?” asks a surprised Gru. “Ugh.” His plan to ditch the girls is foiled!

Gru is stuck riding the roller coaster with the girls. There are loops; there are corkscrews; there are giant drops. The girls are ecstatic, but Gru… not so much. By the end, he looks beaten and battered and ready to throw up.

As they walk by the shooting-gallery booth, Agnes screams again. She points to the main prize—a unicorn. “It’s so fluffy, I’m going to die!” she cries.

“You have to let us play for it,” insists Margo.

“No no no,” says Gru.

The girls beg again. A heavy sigh escapes Gru’s lips, and he turns to the vendor in the booth. “How much for the fluffy unicorn?”

“It’s not for sale,” replies the sleazy-looking vendor. “But all you have to do to win it is knock down that little spaceship there.” He points to the smallest of the spaceship targets.

Gru nods and slaps a one-dollar bill on the counter. The girls then take aim and fire. They all miss.

The next time they try, Agnes actually hits the target! “I hit it! Did you see that? I hit it!” she sings.

But when they are told that Agnes didn’t actually win, Gru steps in. “She hit that. I saw that with my own eyes,” he says to the vendor.

The vendor gives a smarmy smile. “Hey, buddy, you see that little tin spaceship? See how it’s not knocked over? That means you didn’t win!”

Gru’s blood begins to boil. “Okay, my turn,” he says, reaching into his coat pocket. He pulls out a small device that transforms into an enormous Ray Gun.

TCHEW! A bright blue bolt connects with the back of the shooting range. There’s nothing left of the tiny spaceship targets—just a gaping hole.

Gru turns to the vendor. “Knocked over!”

The vendor trembles, his hair smoking from the blast. He doesn’t protest as Gru pockets the weapon, grabs the unicorn, and hands it to Agnes. Margo and Edith cheer, and Agnes hugs the animal tight.

“It’s so fluffy!” exclaims Agnes again.

“That was awesome! You blew up the whole thing!” Edith and Margo say.

“Let’s go destroy another game!” suggests Agnes.

And then the most incredible thing happens: Gru allows a small smile to creep across his face.

Later that night, Gru and the girls return home. They all laugh and chat about the day’s excitement. Gru’s arms are full of souvenirs from Super Silly Fun Land.

Inside the house, they all see Dr. Nefario waiting for them. He doesn’t look happy.

Gru turns to the girls and says, “Okay, girls, go play.”

The girls obediently run off with their goodies. Gru turns back to Dr. Nefario.