Released in 2017, Despicable Me 3 is an animated comedy/adventure movie directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda. Steve Carrell returns to voice Felonious Gru, a villain-turned-secret agent with the Anti Villain League, alongside his wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig). The two are tasked with stopping new villain Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), who has stolen the world’s largest diamond, whilst simultaneously dealing with the news that Gru has a long-lost twin brother.
+ Steve Carrell once again voices Gru (and Dru) to perfection, with that awkward, vaguely European accent that is just so much fun to try and copy. Wiig as Lucy is again great, and all three of the pair’s adoptive daughters, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Galer) and Agnes (Nev Scharrel, taking over from Elsie Fisher) are good int heir own way. Agnes gets the bulk of the cute lines, on her side quest hunting for unicorns
+ Trey Parker as Benjamin Bratt was hilarious, as he sounded like Randy Marsh (from South Park). His man-child, dance-off loving villain was the strongest antagonist in the films so far. He reminded me a lot of Andy Samberg’s Baby Brent from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, just far more sinister
+ the Minions were much more enjoyable here than they were in Despicable Me 2 because they were used much more sparingly. I assume a Minions 2 is on the way sooner rather than later, so I liked that the focus was given to Gru, Lucy and the girls before the Minions get another full movie to themselves
– something about this film was not quite as funny as the previous. There were still a few good lines in particular (and a few good minion moments), but for the most part the film seemed to go for different tones: Gru and Dru meeting was meant to be awkward but uplifting, Bratt was a more menacing villain and the daughter’s side stories were more cheerful
> the villain of this movie, Balthazar Bratt, has a very similar name to the voice actor of the antagonist of the previous movie, Benjamin Bratt, who played El Macho. I wonder if this was intentional
Should you see this film: I can acknowledge that I am not the target audience, but in the same way that the Ice Age franchise has begun to appeal to me less, maybe this is just the pain of growing up. The voice acting here is good to great, and the plot keeps itself together throughout, but for the most part there was not much new on offer here. The kids will love it, I’m sure, but the grown ups might not.
MoshFish Reviews 