Despicable Me 3: Movie Review

"Despicable Me 3" doesn't change the formula. In fact, the third film is efficiently pedestrian. But even with its shortcomings, there's no denying that "Despicable Me 3" is one heck of an enjoyable and funny experience. There's the minions and even twice the Gru with Dru. What's not to love and laugh about? At this point, the franchise doesn't seem to be slowing down any bit.

When Gru (Steve Carell) fails to stop the Anti-Villains League's (AVL) public enemy number one, Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), he and his wife, Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig), are instantly fired from the AVL. Gru suddenly finds himself in the midst of a major identity crisis. On one hand, he knows he cannot go back into being a villain with a family to take care of but he also cannot deny that he misses the thrill of his old ways. But when a mysterious stranger shows up to inform Gru that he has a long-lost twin brother named Dru (Steve Carell) - a brother who desperately wishes to follow in his twin’s despicable footsteps - one former super villain will rediscover just how good it feels to be bad.

"Despicable Me 3" lacks a certain emotional punch to take the series to new heights but what's apparent in this third outing is that it actually doesn't need to do more to be a great experience. On the contrary, we found ourselves highly entertained with a very funny script and crazy scenarios that had us smiling with delight from start to finish. Early on, we feared that the addition of a twin brother was highly suspect but Dru actually turned out to be an outstanding comedic vehicle - even better than Gru in our opinion. Dru's clumsiness effectively makes scenarios instantly funnier and more over-the-top. One of our favorite scenes, where Gru and Dru try to infiltrate a base, showcases perfectly what we mean here. Another high note for the film are the visual graphics. Certain scenes had us completely forgetting we were actually watching a "cartoonish" computer-animated film. "Despicable Me 3's" narrative is nothing to write home about though. It was mostly effective in bringing in tow the film's comedic scenes but the story itself was bland and overall just felt rushed. The character to suffer most in the film's rushed state was Trey Parker's Balthazar Bratt. As the main villain, he was mostly sidelined for the first half of the film and was probably just there for the climactic, not-so-epic final battle. It doesn't mean that his character was badly-designed, we actually loved him in his very few scenes. If Bratt was given more emphasis, he could have been a way better villain against the Gru family and the film could have turned out even better.  

Rating: 4 reels





Why you should watch it:
- Gru, the Minions, and now Dru are still effective as comedic punching bags

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- Doesn't have that emotional punch to take it to the next level
- the film feels rushed at certain sections