An inconvenient Gru(th)
It may be time to face a cold, hard Gru(th).
The “Despicable Me” universe — can we call it the Despicaverse? — is feeling a little long in the Gru(th).
OK, OK, apologies — using the name of the popular animated franchise’s Steve Carell-voiced central character, Gru, the same way for two different wordplays is, admittedly, fairly despicable.
And that’s no way to describe the new “Despicable Me 3.” It has all the hallmarks of the series, including a pleasantly offbeat sense of humor, inventive visuals and, of course, those little yellow Minions, whom we all should continue to cherish. However, the second sequel to 2010’s “Despicable Me” — and the fourth film in the Despicaverse (yeah, we’re going with it), counting 2015’s “Minions” prequel — simply feels like a case of been there, done that. It’s fun, but it’s not fresh. The story picks up a bit after the events of 2013’s more-enjoyable “Despicable Me 2,” with Gru and now wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig) happily together, working as agents for the Anti-Villain League and raising the three former orphan girls previously taken in by Gru: oldest Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), middle child Edith (Dana Gaier) and youngest — and cutest — Agnes (Nev Scharrel).
When former child actor-turned-supervillain Balthazar Bratt (“South Park” co-creator and voice master Trey Parker) is spotted, the AVL dispatches Gru and Lucy, which she dubs “Grucy” and then has to explain to Gru the moniker is a hybrid of their names.
“I like it,” he says, feigning enthusiasm. “But not that much. I don’t like it.”
Aboard a speedboat, Bratt, who’s clearly stuck in the 1980s, when he was famous, asks his robot sidekick for “heist music,” and the sounds of Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” begin to play. He scolds the robot, who then turns over the cassette tape to play Michael Jackson’s “Bad.” After Bratt moonwalks his way onto a ship where he plans to steal the world’s largest diamond, he encounters Gru. The pair have a mildly amusing exchange of gun pointing, followed by a danceoff. Gru gets the diamond, but Bratt escapes.
Despite the relative success of the mission, the new head of the AVL is not pleased, and Gru and Lucy soon find themselves unemployed. This worries the girls, especially Agnes, who holds a toy sale to help with the finances.
However, there soon is a new-and-exciting development for Gru in the form of a twin brother, Dru, he never knew about. It turns out that when his mother and father split up early on, they decided they each would keep a baby and never see the other again.
“Obviously,” Gru’s mother (Julie Andrews) tells him, “I picked second.”
Gru meets Dru, who looks just like him, except the latter has thick, blond locks, unlike his bald doppelganger. Also, Dru is very rich, which immediately impresses the females in Gru’s life and initially annoys him.
Ah, but there’s a twist: Dru has aspirations to be a successful supervillain, just like Gru used to be, and tries to recruit Gru into helping him achieve in this area, where he’s been a failure. Gru tries to resist — he’s already parted ways with most of the Minions, who also pushed for a return to despicable ways when Gru lost his job — but he also sees partnering with his brother as a means to an end.
Meanwhile, Bratt is still on the loose, which is gnawing at Gru.
“Despicable Me 3” is, like all the previous films, co-directed by Pierre Coffin, who also voices many of the Minions, and Kyle Balda, who voices some others. They’ve done fine work, but arguably not their best. Sure, we’re talking about a cartoon here, but the stakes just never feel that high.
Also, Bratt should be more compelling than he is. Sure, the ‘80s gags are nice — he works out to Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical,” plays Van Halen’s “Jump” on his keytar and has one of those old round Simon memory games near his bed — but he’s really not all that, well, bad.
The most fun you’ll have is spending time with Gru and Dru, Carell pulling double-duty nicely. There is a sweetness to their newfound brotherly love, which hits a high point early and a low point late.
While “Despicable Me 3” may be the low point for the series, it never goes all that low. One thing it does well is flesh out secondary plot lines involving the children, including Lucy’s desire to figure out how to be a better mother to them and Agnes’ obsession with seeing a real unicorn. The movie’s sweetest scene has Gru tucking her in and trying to tell her unicorns aren’t real but finding he is incapable of disappointing her like that.
Maybe what’s missing is Russell Brand? For whatever reason, his Gru sidekick Dr. Nefario sits out this adventure while he is encased in carbonite, the movie making an odd but nice reference to “The Empire Strikes Back.”
OK, that’s probably not it.
We’ve likely not seen the last of Gru and the Minions, considering the boon these movies have been for the series’ production house, Illumination. So we’ll just root for a more despicably delightful future adventure.
‘Despicable Me 3’
In theaters: June 30. Rated: PG for action and rude humor.
Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes.
Stars (of four): 2.