SECOND SCREEN

Parents of younger children need at least one animated banker to get them through the holidays and Despicable Me 3 (G) ★★★★is about as safe a bet as a desperate dad on a rainy afternoon could hope for.

These days, of course, Gru – right, voiced by the splendid Steve Carell – is very much the good guy. Married to the lovely, but resourceful, Lucy – voiced by the equally splendid Kristen Wiig – he’s a devoted father and an enthusiastic member of the Anti-Villain League. But when he fails to stop the former-child-actor-turned-supervillain Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker) from stealing the world’s biggest ruby, he is thrown out of the AVL. Oh, the shame. And there’s worse to come, with even his minions deserting him, exasperated – at least as far as one can understand – by his refusal to return to a life of crime. Thank heavens, then, for the timely