#REVIEW Despicable Me 3

Supervillain-turned-hero Gru (Steve Carrell) and his army of Minions return for the third installment in the Despicable Me series. In Despicable Me 3, Gru enlists the help of his long-lost twin brother, Dru (also voiced by Carrell), to foil the plans of new supervillain and former 80s TV star Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker).

Unlike Gru, Dru is an aspiring supervillain without the repertoire of villainy skills required – sort of like what you’d get if you had a comic book version of Vladimir Putin and dressed him in a RompHim (for those who aren’t familiar with the RompHim, it’s essentially a romper for frat boys).

While the plot is mainly focused on Gru and Dru trying to reconcile many long years of lost friendship and brotherhood while chasing down Balthazar Bratt, the most endearing parts of the movie came from the Minions’ moments of comic relief. Their unreasonable but adorable antics have become a global phenomenon and again, were a hit on the big screen. Perhaps my biggest complaint was that they didn’t get enough screen time!

After an hour into the movie, you sort of wonder what the whole point of the movie really is. In the first two installments in the series, we already saw Gru turn from supervillain to hero and start a family. Despicable Me 3 just felt even less despicable and, quite frankly, a snoozefest to sit through.

The other nonsensical subplot was seeing Gru’s new wife Lucy embrace motherhood, by forcing her eldest daughter Margo to eat cheese off of a boy’s plate (I didn’t make that up) and then helping to cuss him (and his mother) out when Margo rejects his advances. Congratulations to her, I guess?

As loud and colourful as the movie was, there was really no value add from creating a third installment. The plot felt dated, predictable and like a force-fed spoon of gummy bear soup (something that Gru and Lucy actually ended up eating in the movie – spoiler: they didn’t like it either). Two days later, you’ll be sleeping on this and forgetting that a third movie ever happened in the Despicable Me series.

1.5 / 5

Universal Pictures releases Despicable Me 3 on Friday, June 30, 2017