Review of Despicable Me 3 (2017) by Kristofer H — 04 Jul 2017

Proper Perspective: If you are more of a fan of the Minions product than the Despicable Me product, then this is likely the movie for you. The story follows Gru and his family, but it is a significant drop in quality from Despicable Me 1 & 2. Let's talk about Despicable Me 3...

Official Synopsis: Gru meets his long-lost charming, cheerful, and more successful twin brother Dru who wants to team up with him for one last criminal heist.

Plot: When unable to take down a major villain Gru and Lucy are fired, then meet Gru's twin brother who wants to drag him back into a life of crime.

Take: I'm trying to put my finger on what was different between this movie and the previous two Despicable Me movies, which I enjoyed, and the only rational answer I can come up with is feels rushed. I thought the first movie was fine, serviceable. The second was more fun and I truly enjoyed the continuation of the story, but the third one landed with a thud for me.

The story just felt stale, lazy, and rushed.

Between Despicable Me 1 and 2 there was a full three years, then when the studio realized Minions were insanely popular the Minions movie was turned around in two years and the same for this movie, just two years. How to Train Your Dragon had four years between sequels and the Toy Story franchise have four years and then 11 years.

Whether this was rushed or not, it felt like it and the characters were stale or retreads. There was nothing fun or fresh about Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker) or Dru (Steve Carrell).

Exploring the family dynamic was what made the first two movies unique and interesting. In the first movie Gru learned to accept a family, then in the sequel he was a full-fledged father when kids starting yearning for a mother figure. Enter Lucy (Kristen Wiig). This movie tried to explore Lucy becoming a mother, but that story got maybe a scene or two. The focus on twin humor and minions took over and the movie ultimately did not work for me.

Having said that my kids gave it four thumbs up.

Recommendation: Skip this and anything Minion related. I cannot stand what those things represent for our culture and the direction things are going with dumbing down all forms of entertainment. Skip, and go see Captain Underpants with the kids or Wonder Woman or Guardians 2 or literally anything else...

Twin jokes! Parenting hijinks situational humor! Minions doing dumb things! Roll Picture!