DESPICABLE ME 3 REVIEWED
“Despicable Me 3” continues America’s fascination with little yellow beings. To spare a think piece, I’m referring to the Minions. But, this film plays the Minions into a loose tangent that kinda takes away from the final film. Let’s start from the beginning. Trey Parker plays a former child star turned evil genius. Parker knows wants vengeance on Hollywood, so he steals a diamond and uses it in a plan to float Hollywood into space. This causes Gru and his wife Lucy to try and stop him. They fail and they get fired by Jenny Slate.
If that wasn’t enough, they’re still stuck with the three kids that never seem to age. This film fights to be different by introducing the Minions wanting to go Rogue, while balancing that with Gru having a twin brother. The twin (Dru) wants to be bad and play with the life that Gru used to live. After a sequence that drags the film to a stand-still, we’re back into super-villainy. Eventually, everything reverts to the status quo and sets up a fourth film. I just wonder if this was a film too far.
Gru is going to be a good guy, that much was known since the end of the first film. But, adding on cinematic DLC to pad out a one-and-done story is showing flaws in the Illumination design. While I didn’t hate “Sing” and “Secret Life of Pets” as much as my contemporaries, I always feel that the Despicable Me movies were a stylistic safe zone. Unfortunately, the third film is proving that the series has gone flat.
Having Trey Parker as the film’s villain was a smart move, but he doesn’t actually have a purpose. It would be like if “The Incredibles” focuses on the French Bomber from the opening, rather than Syndrome. Plus, when the gang lands on Fredonia…I noticed that Illumination is slipping back into Filmation style habits. When you see the film, watch the background characters around the cheese engagement sequence. Tell me on the social media channels if you can see the problem.
Watch it if you’ve got kids, skip it if you don’t. Due to media saturation, you’re inevitably going to see this at some point.
FILM STATS
- PG
- 1 hr and 30 mins
- Universal
