Illumination’s Despicable Me franchise continues to grow and somehow has also found a way to remain prosperous throughout each new endeavor. Kudos to the writers and to the studio for allowing the franchise to take on a life of its own. With a sequel and a spin-off out of the way, Despicable Me 3 searches for a way to, once again, bring a fresh feel to this latest chapter.
Gru (Steve Carell) has come a long way since his mischievous, despicable ways of the original movie. He has adopted three lovely girls, found a woman that he has willingly given his heart to and finally, Gru has finally found purpose in his life to do only good things. Love is a powerful thing. Now living a life filled with love and purpose, Gru works alongside Lucy (Kristen Wiig) to thwart evil at every turn under the direction of the Anti-Villain League (AVL). Their biggest nemesis is a former child-actor-turned-irrelevant-common-citizen super-villain, Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker). Bratt vows to take down Gru at any costs.
Gru’s newly found status quo gets upended when both he and Lucy are relieved of their duties at the AVL. To make matters even more challenging, Gru learns of the existence of a twin brother he never knew existed. Dru (still voiced by Carell), leads quite a different life than his mirror image family member. With a new purpose, and a new storyline, an all new adventure waits everyone, including the Minions. We can’t for the Minions.
Stepping back and remembering that Despicable Me 3 is for the kids at the end of the day, we’re going to focus on that aspect first. Parent’s don’t worry, just because I didn’t really mention the Minions often before, don’t assume that you won’t get a healthy dose of the little mellow yellow fellows. Minions gonna Minion so there will be no worries there. Kids should get a decent supply of giggles from the little guys and their silly ways. Really, the things that made the first three movies of the franchise so successful are present. That’s a good thing. The new addition of Trey Parker’s character will have the young ones laughing at his goofiness. Adults, on the other hand, will most likely find that his stuck-in-the-1980s persona is entertainment enough.
Despicable Me 3 will most likely do okay in its box office run but there’s nothing there that would make me give this movie a strong recommend. Once again it’s the Minions that save the day from an entertainment standpoint so no need to hit the panic button. Having said that, Illumination really needs to put the franchise out to feature film pasture. Any future potential releases should be immediately relegated for direct-to-video releases in order to save what’s left of the Despicable Me franchise good name. You can check it out in theaters right now.
