Despicable Me 3 Review

Despicable Me 3 is the latest in this series where yellow based monsters called Minions have now taken over by popular demand. That being said, there's actually a decent story in this one about the crew dealing with the arrival of one's lost brother and their current main nemesis which kicks the 80s into high gear. Things start off with Gru (Steve Carell) dealing with his life as a spy for the good guys with his wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig). Together they get called to deal with Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker) which is an adult that's stuck in the past where he used to play an evil genius kid on TV.

This show has become his life after it was cancelled and now he pulls off real evil stunts. Things happen and eventually Gru gets a surprise that he has a twin brother named Dru (Steve Carell, again). The whole family heads over to meet him and learn more about the historic past of their family. It wasn't necessarily a deep plot, but fun enough along the way. It's definitely got a targeted audience and doesn't really attempt to add any more depth than that.

The story wasn't anything too creative coming across a slapstick style of comedy in how the brothers interact. If you've enjoyed the past Despicable Me based animations then this should be a fine next addition to the story. The comedy seemed to hit correctly with the audience reacting well to most points and the children were certainly reacting positively to it. I found some of the jokes to land well and there was a decent story behind it.

I can't say I was at all a fan of the Minions' side story as it didn't really do much aside from getting them out of the main narrative for a bit. The animation was well done providing great amounts of depth and detail to the world. I especially loved the style of the 80s integration with toys, characters and some other surprises that I won't spoil.

The Conclusion

Despicable Me 3 wasn't anything too amazing, but a solid film and one that its audience will enjoy watching. If you've seen the past entries and enjoyed those then this will be another fine addition to that collection. Some of the jokes were decent to me with the audience reacting well to almost all of it.

I didn't like the Minions' sub-plot but I can tell why it was there and that was mostly due to it distracting from what the central theme of the film was. There could have been some better depth there though the film ran at a fine short time and was something I could watch fine. The younger audience will most certainly enjoy the film and adults will not hate it.

Despicable Me 3 Review at Theater with Standard Viewing
Screening Provided by Screening Provided by NBC Universal

Rating Overall: 7.0