Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Adieu Gru, your charms are few
DESPICABLE ME 3 Cert U, Running time 90mins ★★★
Gru gets into the groove in this bubblegum-coloured animated sequel which has a heavy 1980s influence, with the cackling despicable villain turned secret agent once again voiced by funnyman Steve Carell.
It’s a typically fast-paced affair but the madcap charm and invention of earlier episodes is diluted by a jaundiced pandering to parents, a piecemeal plot and a tendency towards soap opera.
Plus the real stars have always been the little yellow minions, who would be better off continuing their own spinoff series. They have great moments but are unwisely elbowed aside in favour of a couple of new, less funny characters. Gru and his family head off to the European backwater of Freedonia, where his long lost brother Dru lives.
Meanwhile, back in the US, Balthazar Bratt is a mullet-wearing, breakdancing, super villain.
He was a 1980s child TV star who wants revenge on Hollywood for cancelling his show.
His lair is littered with Rubik cubes and suchlike, while famous songs of the decade from Madonna et al are crowbarred onto the soundtrack.
This is all a disappointingly cynical attempt to keep the parents and grandparents in the audience happy, while the comic violence entertains the kids.
The minions’ fart jokes are far funnier than the warmed-over nostalgia that was intended to keep me occupied.
With new characters added with every film, the script has a lot of juggling to do to keep everyone busy, and it feels as if we’re watching a couple of different scripts less than seamlessly stitched together.
I was bored by the scenes where Gru worries about his job and his new wife frets about bonding with their three daughters. With the Illumination studio developing new films such as mega hit movie Sing, this feels more a stale contractual obligation filler than a labour of love.
And it’s not as despicably great as the previous films.