‘Despicable Me 3’ is Everything But

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The “Despicable Me” franchise is guilty of a lot of things: introducing Minions to the world, giving Steve Carell a reason use the most ethnically ambiguous accent in animated history and getting “Happy” by Pharrell stuck in everyone’s heads.

For all its faults and though no one would ever call any movie in the franchise a cinematic masterpiece, “Despicable Me 3” managed to be a fun summer movie.

The movie picks up with Gru and Lucy, played by Carell and Kristen Wiig, chasing down ‘80s themed villain Balthasar Bratt, voiced by Trey Packard. Packard steals the show every time his character is on screen, bringing similar over the top delivery to the film as his various “South Park” characters.

After being thwarted by Bratt, a chain of events unfolds for Gru and Lisa that lead to Gru finding his twin brother Dru, the minions going to jail and Agnes finding a unicorn.

The various sub-plots of the film are perhaps its greatest weakness, it feels as though nothing in the movie is fully flushed out through out the 90 minute run time.

Still, many things in this third installment fix the mistakes of previous films and make for a more enjoyable movie experience. For example, the minions do not dominate the movie this time around, leaving room for other characters’ growth.

The minions’ presence feels more like a comedic relief from the main story into wacky shenanigans than an obligatory secondary plot.

The comedy in the film is best exemplified in its subtle details during the more important scenes and the over the top silliness of the action scenes.

During an argument with Gru, the minions shout indistinct phrases and hold up picket signs. One of the signs simply says “Watz for lunch!” in angry red text, a perfectly random detail for characters that are completely random in essence.

Despicable Me 3 is not a movie the whole family will enjoy; it’s silly escapism for kids with tolerable humor and even some cackle worthy moments for adults. The best way to enjoy this movie is to remember it’s not a Disney film; there’s no incredibly deep message or extremely gripping storytelling. This is a wacky adventure, heist, parody, action movie that can be quite enjoyable if one is willing suspend disbelief and standards.