Despicable Me 3 (2017)

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For my money, this chapter of the series pretty much parallels the first 'Minions' movie as far as overall quality is concerned. This may not rely on almost pure cuteness like 'Minions' did, but it does fall under the category of all-around "staleness" that just about any third part of a series suffers. 'Minions' already kind of overwhelmed us, and there wasn't exactly a big break between movies to give us any sort of breather. So in many ways, this just felt like more of the same, especially when the Minions get a full side-plot here.

For as fun as the Minions are to me, even I have to admit that things started to feel like a bit of an overdose at this point. At least the Minion plot line in 'Despicable Me 2' was still a part of the main story. This was more of a matter of letting them do their own thing, which is what the 'Minion' movie was for. Having said that, I'm not entirely sure that I'd have loved a heavier focus on the main plot either. All in all, I probably consider this one the worst of the bunch. I don't think it's horrible or anything, but I mean, unless you're a kid, it's still kinda bad.

Felonious Gru (Steve Carell) and Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) are now a married couple, and adopted parents to Margot (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Nev Scharrel). The pair now work for the AVL (Anti-Villain League), and live a life of adventure. Their current mission is to recover the Dumont Diamond (biggest diamond in the world), which has been stolen by former child actor villain, Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), who is trapped in the 80s, and spends most of the movie just dancing around and listening to retro tunes.

When they fail to actually capture and bring in Bratt for the umpteenth time, however, they are both fired by newcomer Valerie Da Vinci (Jenny Slate) - there to replace Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) as head of the AVL. Gru and Lucy come home with the bad news, and while the girls are concerned, the Minions are ready to celebrate Gru's potential triumphant return to evil. When he refuses, however, most of the Minions, led by Mel (Pierre Coffin, once again voicing them all) walk out on him.

This is where the story splits in two. The main story involves Gru eventually meeting his long-lost twin brother, Drew (also Carell). Drew is a goodie-goodie who has ultimately disappointed their villainous father, and wants Gru to teach him the ways of villainy. Gru half-way agrees, but uses the stealing of the Dumont Diamond back from Bratt as a cover so that he and Lucy could potentially get their jobs at the AVL back. During all of this, Lucy tries to fit in as a good mother, as she's still very new to the whole thing.

Meanwhile, the Minions land themselves in jail and have their whole "prison escape" side story going on, AND we get a third story about Edith and Agnes literally looking for a unicorn that some random guy tells them about. It's really just a way to bring back the cutest and funniest scene in 'Despicable Me' ("he's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!") and capitalize on it. And between all three of the stories, the Minions in prison is about as dark as it gets for any kind of contrast to all the cutesiness. Once again, the original wins for that concept.

Above anything else, there's a lot of this where it feels like it doesn't know what it wants to be. Trey Parker wanted to do this so his daughter could see his work without it warping her fragile little mind, and that's fair. But I have to admit that the whole time, all I could hear was Randy from 'South Park', and it still feels incredibly out of place. all in all, I think its passable for all the kids watching, but as an adult, despite a few honest giggles throughout, I have to consider it the weakest of the batch. Thankfully, we'd get a decent breather between this and 'Minions 2'...

2/5

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