Despicable Me 3

As I've mentioned in past reviews, Hollywood has produced many franchise films too numerous to list. However they couldn't limit the franchise feel to just live films, but also to animated films as well. We've seen them: "Toy Story", "Ice Age", "Cars", "Cinderella", and now we have "Despicable Me 3" to add to that franchise.

 

After he is fired from the AVL (Anti-Villain League) for failing to take down the latest bad guy, Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker) to threaten humanity, Gru (Steve Carell) finds himself in the midst of a major identity crisis. Even his wife and fellow agent, Lucy (Kirsten Wiig) can't snap him out of it. But when a mysterious stranger shows up to inform Gru that he has a long-lost twin brother, Dru (Steve Carell)--a brother who desperately wishes to follow in his twin's despicable footsteps, one former super-villain will rediscover just how good it feels to be bad. Between catching Bratt and obtaining his agent position with the AVL and trying to work with his twin brother Dru, Gru certainly has his job cut out for him.

 

Others to round out the cast are Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, Dana Gaier as Edith, Nev Scharrel as Agnes, Pierre Coffin as Minions/Museum Director, Steve Coogan as Fritz/Silas Ramsbottom, Julie Andrews as Gru's Mom, Jenny Slate as Valerie Da Vinci and Andy Nyman as Clive the Robot.

 

This was directed with familial technique by Kyle Balda ("The Lorax" (co-dir.) '12, "Minions" '15) plus shorts, Pierre Coffin ("Despicable Me" '10, "Despicable Me 2" '13, "Minions" '15) plus shorts and co-directed by Eric Guillon (Designer of many animated films). Between all of these filmmakers, there are a plethora of animated films to their credit, so their familiarity has definitely helped with this film. It was written by veteran writers Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio ("Bubble Boy" '01, "The Santa Clause 2" '02, "Horton Hears a Who!" '08, "Despicable Me" '10, "Hop" '11, "The Lorax" '12, "Despicable Me 2" '13, "The Secret Life of Pets" '16) plus others and shorts. The screenplay here simply needed a bit more polish--there were a couple of slow places in story and this is only a 90 minute film. I think the problem, more than anything, is the fact that it isn't as fresh as its predecessors as with any franchise. The idea of Gru having a long-lost twin brother was certainly something new to add to this to create originality, however the execution seemed a bit drawn out. A bad day for these guys at the laptop? Not sure. It still had funny places and Steve Carell playing he and his twin brother was creative and hilarious.

 

Will there be a "Despicable Me 4"? As long as the money comes pouring in, there will undoubtedly be another. Certainly "Minions" 2 has been announced, but then again, it was a hit and it was funny. Only time will tell.

 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                          Rated: PG                                       90mins.