MOVIE REVIEW – The Despicable Me franchise has an interesting track record for me when it comes to enjoying the series. The first movie was a fun classic that had its small flaws, but otherwise, it is something that I recommend to everyone. With the sequel, I found that the directors were trying too much regarding parallel storylines, and the pacing was all over the pace. Still, it was successful enough to warrant a spin-off with the loveable yellow mutants called Minions.. which was the low point for me in the franchise.

When the third entry of Despicable Me was announced, I was a skeptic, that Gru would be back once more to conquer the world with his minions, and loveable orphans successfully. Luckily it seems the directors picked up on some of the issues, and actually put a lot of effort to the 3^rd movie.

Face/Off

The story of Despicable Me 3 picks up after the second movie, with Gru and Lucy married, and both of them work for the Anti-Villain League or AVL in short. During one of their operations, they fail to capture Balthazar Bratt (Voiced by Trey Parker), and both are fired from the AVL. However to make matters even more complicated when it turns out Gru has a twin brother called Dru. After their initial meet up with Dru, Gru and the family ends up in a bit of predicament as Dru is keen on going back with Gru to restart the villainy business.

The story is fun, and while even here they try to juggle three main storylines with one or two subplots they do not feel cluttered compared to the previous entry. In fact, the lack of a romantic subplot worked wonders for the movie, and here instead the focus is on the relationships between Gru and Dru, plus Lucy wanting to be accepted by the orphans as a stepmother. There are also the Minions who are surprisingly toned down (although after a full-fledged movie I can understand the reason), but they work, and the skits they are in are brief, short and hilarious. Dru, on the other hand, was a great addition to the series, but he feels a bit like an element that will play a larger role in a sequel.

All three main storylines are well developed and wrapped up properly by the end of the movie, with a little bit of feeling for more. The jokes and dialogues are well written, although some knowledge of the 80s and Michael Jackson is required in order to enjoy the movie fully, for those who skipped on this, the visual gags will be just as enjoyable.

Disco balls and spies

The visual gags as mentioned above are good, and the aesthetics of the movie is insanely detailed. At this point though it felt a bit sameish after watching Cars 3. It is an odd complaint, and while the movie looks beautiful, the explosions are great, and Balthazar’s character design with its 80s flair. I can’t help but feel that Pixar and Dreamwork need to find a bit of more different styles. Although here the mix of 80s culture did uplift the movie from being too generic regarding design. Plus the elaborate constructions and wacky spy theme also add another fun layer to the visuals.

The music was also great, and the use of Michael Jackson’s Bad for the intro was superb, and there are some fun tracks, but other than the intro song, and an impromptu singing by the Minions nothing else is memorable. The movie uses 80s songs for most of the movie not just as a soundtrack filler, but for several jokes, which work and are done cleverly.

All in all the movie looks and sounds great, but a bit of style variety would be great. Otherwise, most animated movies will end up looking the same.

Third times a charm?

The movie is good, nothing spectacular, and the first movie is still the best, but the creators were able to breathe new life into the franchise without the overuse of Minions. It is a fun movie, with lots of 80s references and a villain that is actually formidable. It is also a much more focused film regarding narrative and pacing which the previous movie was lacking. A good movie with fun moments, and jokes, and with some slight hiccups that lower the score.

-Dante-