Post by Trey_Vore on Dec 18, 2021 9:14:52 GMT -5
Despicable Me 3 (2017)
Distributor: Universal/Illumination Entertainment
Director: Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda
Cast: Steve Carell (Gru, Dru), Kirsten Wiig (Lucy Wilde), Trey Parker (Balthazar Bratt), Pierre Coffin (Mel, Kevin, Stuart, Bob, the Minions), Miranda Cosgrove (Margo), Dana Gaier (Edith), Nev Scharrel (Agnes), Steve Coogan (Silas Ramsbottom), Jenny Slate (Valerie Da Vinci), Andy Nyman (Clive the Robot)
Runtime: 90 min.
MPAA rating: (mild action, rude humor)
After having been married at the end of Despicable Me 2, Gru and Lucy are now partners in the AVL and hot on the trail of Balthazar Bratt, a former child actor from the 1980s turned supervillain who is in the middle of stealing the Dumont diamond. After failing to catch him, Gru and Lucy are fired from the AVL. When Gru refuses to return to being a supervillain, the Minions, led by Mel, leave to find work. After getting a telegram, Gru is invited to come to Freedonia by his long-lost twin brother Dru, who is very wealthy and wants to meet them. Taking the family to Freedonia, Gru learns from Dru that their father was a supervillain and wants to become one himself. So which path will Gru end up taking?
2017 was certainly an interesting year for animated films. I knew that I was looking forward to this movie being a fan of Despicable Me and very much enjoyed the prior two and the prequel film Minions. When I did see it, I liked it and felt it was one of the better animated films of 2017. It most certainly made a lot of money as it even outgrossed Despicable Me 2, but not Minions. I even saw it a second time during August to show some spite for The Emoji Movie.
So now, it’s time for me to give my honest opinions of the third Despicable Me.
I still feel this movie is one of the year’s better animated movies and still plenty of laughs to be had. I do feel this movie is though, probably the weakest of the Despicable Me movies and least likely to hold up over time. I do enjoy this movie even though I’m aware it’s hardly perfect.
Maybe I should begin with the story. And, well… we have a lot of stories to discuss here. The reason for this is we have a main plot of Gru and Lucy trying to find and arrest Balthazar Bratt being a 1980s child actor who is holding a grudge against Hollywood for ending his show so soon, but that ends badly as they are fired from the AVL and need to find a way to get reinstated. Then you have a big smattering of subplots which involve Gru and Dru and their long-lost brotherly bonding, Lucy adjusting to her new life as a stepmom, the Minions wanting to be villains again and falling into trouble, Edith aiding Agnes in her quest to find a real-life unicorn and Balthazar Bratt scheming to decimate Hollywood. That’s an awful lot of ground to cover in a 90 min movie. I would liken this as being the fact that this is their first post-Sing animated movie. You know, after they did Sing and they had that experience writing characters with very elaborate backstories, the writers at Illumination now probably feel a lot more confident with doing so and think they could do the same with their first entry into animation with mixed results. The movie still has the Despicable Me heart and charm that you would expect, and the humor is still there and still funny. The downside to this though, is it feels somewhat muddled. There are times when it feels like they want to give these characters the same power as that we saw on Sing, but for reasons I will explain, it does feel overly busy and you may not see as much as you might of one character or another. However, for as jumbled as it can be, it didn’t destroy my appreciation of the movie or its characters as the writing has enough to make it worth my while.
The animation is as you would expect from Illumination, bright, colorful and full of personality. Unlike in the past, the characters spend a good amount of time in Freedonia, a European-like country where Gru’s brother Dru lives and the culture they would soak up. My favorite part though, would be anytime they go all 1980s on us and take us back to the decade of excess. Being a junkie for the 80s I found myself really going to some of its musical cues and 80s-era references.
Now for the characters, there’s an awful lot to take in and it may not jive with some people like the prior two movies in this franchise. For Gru, he’s still the former supervillain-turned-AVL agent who now is tempted into returning to the dark side. I still feel that Gru is a solid character and fully understand what his place would be in trying to return to redeem himself to the AVL. Lucy is the still perky AVL agent who now is grappling with the fact she is now a parent in addition to aiding Gru in getting their jobs back. Gru’s brother Dru is in a way, the anti-Gru. He is like if Gru had never went down the path he went by having never been a villain or a parent. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want that to change though. Minion Mel, first characterized in this movie, you could describe if Dr. Nefario was a Minion. His purpose seems to help push the idea that family is what is important. The movie’s villain is Balthazar Bratt, a supervillain who does his criminal deeds with an 80s theme which I honestly thought was hyper cool being the 1980s junkie that I am. He bears a hate for Hollywood due to the cancellation of his show “Evil Bratt” after the third season and now wants to destroy it. I take this as telling kids you should not hold grudges and not let your past trouble you. Despite some of their “growing pains” these characters have to go through, I still feel they hold the movie together well enough.
There is however two factors that I feel I should bring up in regard to the characters, the first one I fully understand and the second is a factor that becomes more and more evident as these movies go. First off, we see only a little of the Minions this time around. This may be disappointing if you are a Minion fan like myself, but I fully understand why they don’t get very much to do here. For in 2015 we got Minions, which was a prequel to these movies and they were featured very prominently, so for this movie they have minimal screen time so we don’t start to get sick of them. It was just a smart business decision.
Second, it is becoming apparent that there is not much else you can truly do with Gru’s three adopted daughters Margo, Edith and Agnes. They were major characters in the first movie and gave it some level of heart. However, that was pretty much the height of their roles in this series; and there’s nothing else to really explore with them. I suppose you could tell us exactly how they became orphans in the first place, but in this movie’s world that probably doesn’t fit the tone they are going for. You could bring them back for a more minor role in the second movie as Gru probably felt they would now need a mother figure, but by now it’s pretty clear they are becoming “Artifacts”. Only Agnes truly gets a role as she goes off in a hunt for a unicorn because, Agnes and unicorns. Margo and Edith don’t get any role other than well, Margo helps enhance Lucy’s role and Edith gives Agnes someone to talk to. By this point they are pretty much used up as characters. I guess like how in the first movie Margo was advertising The Lorax, this time she gets to advertise The Grinch? Moving on. You can’t truly get rid of them because it would betray the message of the first movie and you’d be wondering why Gru and Lucy are suddenly childless, but now their roles feel purely perfunctory—if you are making a Despicable Me sequel, they need to have some sort of role just because it’s part of the job.
For me, I did enjoy Despicable Me 3 and would recommend it, but by this point I am starting to think this franchise has almost run its course. Maybe it could come back for one more movie, but then it would probably be for the best to end it. Still, it did make money and we can safely say that Despicable Me will be remembered as a memorable film series from the 2010s.
Despicable Me 3 (2017)
TreyVore rates it: B-
Distributor: Universal/Illumination Entertainment
Director: Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda
Cast: Steve Carell (Gru, Dru), Kirsten Wiig (Lucy Wilde), Trey Parker (Balthazar Bratt), Pierre Coffin (Mel, Kevin, Stuart, Bob, the Minions), Miranda Cosgrove (Margo), Dana Gaier (Edith), Nev Scharrel (Agnes), Steve Coogan (Silas Ramsbottom), Jenny Slate (Valerie Da Vinci), Andy Nyman (Clive the Robot)
Runtime: 90 min.
MPAA rating: (mild action, rude humor)
After having been married at the end of Despicable Me 2, Gru and Lucy are now partners in the AVL and hot on the trail of Balthazar Bratt, a former child actor from the 1980s turned supervillain who is in the middle of stealing the Dumont diamond. After failing to catch him, Gru and Lucy are fired from the AVL. When Gru refuses to return to being a supervillain, the Minions, led by Mel, leave to find work. After getting a telegram, Gru is invited to come to Freedonia by his long-lost twin brother Dru, who is very wealthy and wants to meet them. Taking the family to Freedonia, Gru learns from Dru that their father was a supervillain and wants to become one himself. So which path will Gru end up taking?
2017 was certainly an interesting year for animated films. I knew that I was looking forward to this movie being a fan of Despicable Me and very much enjoyed the prior two and the prequel film Minions. When I did see it, I liked it and felt it was one of the better animated films of 2017. It most certainly made a lot of money as it even outgrossed Despicable Me 2, but not Minions. I even saw it a second time during August to show some spite for The Emoji Movie.
So now, it’s time for me to give my honest opinions of the third Despicable Me.
I still feel this movie is one of the year’s better animated movies and still plenty of laughs to be had. I do feel this movie is though, probably the weakest of the Despicable Me movies and least likely to hold up over time. I do enjoy this movie even though I’m aware it’s hardly perfect.
Maybe I should begin with the story. And, well… we have a lot of stories to discuss here. The reason for this is we have a main plot of Gru and Lucy trying to find and arrest Balthazar Bratt being a 1980s child actor who is holding a grudge against Hollywood for ending his show so soon, but that ends badly as they are fired from the AVL and need to find a way to get reinstated. Then you have a big smattering of subplots which involve Gru and Dru and their long-lost brotherly bonding, Lucy adjusting to her new life as a stepmom, the Minions wanting to be villains again and falling into trouble, Edith aiding Agnes in her quest to find a real-life unicorn and Balthazar Bratt scheming to decimate Hollywood. That’s an awful lot of ground to cover in a 90 min movie. I would liken this as being the fact that this is their first post-Sing animated movie. You know, after they did Sing and they had that experience writing characters with very elaborate backstories, the writers at Illumination now probably feel a lot more confident with doing so and think they could do the same with their first entry into animation with mixed results. The movie still has the Despicable Me heart and charm that you would expect, and the humor is still there and still funny. The downside to this though, is it feels somewhat muddled. There are times when it feels like they want to give these characters the same power as that we saw on Sing, but for reasons I will explain, it does feel overly busy and you may not see as much as you might of one character or another. However, for as jumbled as it can be, it didn’t destroy my appreciation of the movie or its characters as the writing has enough to make it worth my while.
The animation is as you would expect from Illumination, bright, colorful and full of personality. Unlike in the past, the characters spend a good amount of time in Freedonia, a European-like country where Gru’s brother Dru lives and the culture they would soak up. My favorite part though, would be anytime they go all 1980s on us and take us back to the decade of excess. Being a junkie for the 80s I found myself really going to some of its musical cues and 80s-era references.
Now for the characters, there’s an awful lot to take in and it may not jive with some people like the prior two movies in this franchise. For Gru, he’s still the former supervillain-turned-AVL agent who now is tempted into returning to the dark side. I still feel that Gru is a solid character and fully understand what his place would be in trying to return to redeem himself to the AVL. Lucy is the still perky AVL agent who now is grappling with the fact she is now a parent in addition to aiding Gru in getting their jobs back. Gru’s brother Dru is in a way, the anti-Gru. He is like if Gru had never went down the path he went by having never been a villain or a parent. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want that to change though. Minion Mel, first characterized in this movie, you could describe if Dr. Nefario was a Minion. His purpose seems to help push the idea that family is what is important. The movie’s villain is Balthazar Bratt, a supervillain who does his criminal deeds with an 80s theme which I honestly thought was hyper cool being the 1980s junkie that I am. He bears a hate for Hollywood due to the cancellation of his show “Evil Bratt” after the third season and now wants to destroy it. I take this as telling kids you should not hold grudges and not let your past trouble you. Despite some of their “growing pains” these characters have to go through, I still feel they hold the movie together well enough.
There is however two factors that I feel I should bring up in regard to the characters, the first one I fully understand and the second is a factor that becomes more and more evident as these movies go. First off, we see only a little of the Minions this time around. This may be disappointing if you are a Minion fan like myself, but I fully understand why they don’t get very much to do here. For in 2015 we got Minions, which was a prequel to these movies and they were featured very prominently, so for this movie they have minimal screen time so we don’t start to get sick of them. It was just a smart business decision.
Second, it is becoming apparent that there is not much else you can truly do with Gru’s three adopted daughters Margo, Edith and Agnes. They were major characters in the first movie and gave it some level of heart. However, that was pretty much the height of their roles in this series; and there’s nothing else to really explore with them. I suppose you could tell us exactly how they became orphans in the first place, but in this movie’s world that probably doesn’t fit the tone they are going for. You could bring them back for a more minor role in the second movie as Gru probably felt they would now need a mother figure, but by now it’s pretty clear they are becoming “Artifacts”. Only Agnes truly gets a role as she goes off in a hunt for a unicorn because, Agnes and unicorns. Margo and Edith don’t get any role other than well, Margo helps enhance Lucy’s role and Edith gives Agnes someone to talk to. By this point they are pretty much used up as characters. I guess like how in the first movie Margo was advertising The Lorax, this time she gets to advertise The Grinch? Moving on. You can’t truly get rid of them because it would betray the message of the first movie and you’d be wondering why Gru and Lucy are suddenly childless, but now their roles feel purely perfunctory—if you are making a Despicable Me sequel, they need to have some sort of role just because it’s part of the job.
For me, I did enjoy Despicable Me 3 and would recommend it, but by this point I am starting to think this franchise has almost run its course. Maybe it could come back for one more movie, but then it would probably be for the best to end it. Still, it did make money and we can safely say that Despicable Me will be remembered as a memorable film series from the 2010s.
Despicable Me 3 (2017)
TreyVore rates it: B-
