Meu Malvado Favorito 3

While there are several interesting things going on at a rapid fire rate, there seems to be no real center to this thing. Even in an animated film, we want a story and characters that we recognize. The animation is awesome and I enjoyed the Mean Kid actor and his adult incarnation. I quickly became bored with the minions. They have no soul or interest to me.

24 July 2017 Film of Choice at The Plaza Dorchester this evening - Despicable Me 3. So this is the third outing for Gru and his girls, and his weird dog, and his many many minions. I for one am happy to get back to the old team, I found the Minions film a little too much Minion. This outing gives us another outrageous villain, a guy called Balthazar Bratt, a character completely stuck in the 80s with his music and his dance moves and armed with expanding bubble gum as his weapon of choice. Throw into the mix the discovery that Gru has in fact got a twin brother called Dru and you've got a pretty watchable film. I can't say it was outrageously funny but I did giggle throughout. The humour is very Benny Hill in its slapstick delivery and throw in the sheer determination of Agnes that the existence of unicorns is true, you have quite an endearing film to keep you entertained for a while.

Okay fine I'll admit it I'm a big Despicable Me fan and I love minions, don't judge me!

I thought both of the first two Despicable Me movies were fantastic and to a lesser extent enjoyed Minions (2015) so logically I was going to enjoy this, but did I?

Well it has the same charm, it has the great voice talent, it has a stellar soundtrack and it has minions! What is there to dislike?

Well I don't dislike it but truth be told it's not on par with the other movies, I don't know quite what it was but I just wasn't feeling it this time as a lot of the jokes missed their mark, the minions took a backseat and the twin brother aspect of the plot was a tad weak.

Regardless Despicable Me 3 is a lot of fun for all the family complete with lots of jokes that the parents will appeciate and a great retro 80's soundtrack.

Being a big South Park fan I really appreciated the work put into this by Trey Parker, he's a multi-talented fella as demonstrated here.

The franchise still has life in it and hopefully won't be going away anytime soon.

BANANA!

The Good:

Great soundtrack

Same ol'charm

Trey Parker

The Bad:

Story is weaker than previous films

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Giant titan mechs can be made by one single person in a matter of days

Trey Parker needs more voice work

I want a uni-goat!

If she doesn't get fluffy back in the next movie I'm rioting.........awkwardly..........by myself

Despicable Me 3 is another obligatory sequel to an animated box-office smash, and it plays out as such: the story's essentially the same as before but the big twist is that South Park co-creator Trey Parker stars in this movie as the lead villain. He does a good job with what he's given, but you wonder WHY he took up the part in the first place!? Was there any real motivation for him doing this besides the money? I think not.

What can I say? It's perfectly harmless family entertainment that makes up for a very... 'because-movie' type of film. This pic gets 3/5 stars.

As far as disposable sequels to kids films, Despicable Me 3 is pretty much on par with Cars 3 (2017). It's not a particularly memorable film nor can it really hold its own against something like The LEGO Batman Movie (2017) but at least it's not unpleasant. In-fact in may ways Despicable Me 3 is better than the original in that it improves its look-and-feel and provides a decent foil for once in the form of Trey Parker's Balthazar Bratt. Of course it's to the detriment of neutering the refreshing mean-spirited-ness of the original, but hey, at least you still got those Minions am I right? Despicable Me 3 catches Gru (Carell) and newly minted wife Lucy (Wiig) trying and failing to secure the world's largest diamond from the hands of Bratt our flamboyant 80's themed villain. Fired by the new head of the Anti-Villain League (Slate), Gru and Lucy discover he has a twin brother named Dru (also Carell) whom their parents separated at birth. With nothing on their plate, Gru, Lucy and the girls (Cosgrove, Gaier and Scharrel), travel to the Mediterranean coasts of Freedonia to meet Dru.

When the family lands in Freedonia, the movie descends into a series of fun but thematically incongruous vignettes. Gru bonds with his brother over Dru's desire to become a villain, Lucy fails, succeeds and fails again to become a mother figure to the three girls, Agnes, the youngest of the three tries to capture a unicorn, Balthazar Bratt sees his plans for world domination come to near-fruition and the Minions...well let's just say they have their own thing going as well.

About half of all this busy, busy, business works at least as far as furthering the plot. The fact that none of the film's insanity really coalesces into a compelling whole, only makes the film feel more like a mediocre sitcom episode than an actual movie. Yet as far as inspired moments of slapstick, Despicable Me 3 supplies a little bit more than is to be expected. One highlight involves Gru and Dru driving around the Freedonian countryside in a golden-plated mean machine while police follow while riding literal pigs. Parents will find these comedic bits more amusing than funny but the kids, the kids will be rolling up and down the aisles.

And isn't that what this movie is ultimately about? To provide entertainment to children? While I don't necessarily condone families watching kid's films for their own sake (and this one in particular is all over the map as far as messaging), there's not really all that much to object about here. Despicable Me 3 is at its core a thoughtless but entertaining jumble of sights, sounds and goofiness. Thankfully unlike your racist aunt, Illumination Entertainment has not used the Minions for nefarious purposes...at least not yet.