‘Despicable Me 3’ Tries Hard and Falls Short

Sequels are a big gamble for movie makers. We all loved “Despicable Me.” The sequel was pretty good, but lacked some of the original’s charm and polish. The third installment, “Despicable Me 3” is ambitious, but becomes a jumbled, and sometimes bizarre mess that has a hard time coming to a decent conclusion.

Our anti-hero Gru,voiced by Steve Carrell, is no longer a villain and is still trying hard to be upstanding and provide for his new wife, Lucy (Kristen Wiig), and his three adopted daughters, who are still fun and cute in this offering. He and Lucy continue to be good-guy secret agents, with Lucy being the better one.

The movie’s villain, Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), became a villain after failing to continue in his career as a child sitcom star from the 1980s. There are plenty of 80s references which parents from that era will find reasonably funny, but kid audiences might not get. I also had a hard time explaining to my daughter why Gru’s parents divorced, why his father kept his twin brother Dru (another subplot) and why Gru’s mother told him that his father had died of disappointment when he was born; not funny for young kiddos and not easy to explain.

Gru ends up taking the whole family to visit his long-lost brother after learning that his birth father really IS dead this time. After learning that his family is actually a wealthy family of villains, Gru toys with the idea of returning to his life of crime. Along the way, there are moments that were possibly meant to be funny, but they just aren’t.

It looks like the writers had some good ideas, got them going, and didn’t know what to do with them. Gru is fired as a secret agent, and the loyal wife, Lucy, is also fired. Gru tries to convince his twin brother that he will continue the family’s villain legacy, at the same time pursuing the evil Bratt and trying to return the precious diamond he has stolen.

The best part was the end, with some semi-clever scenes and a decent attempt at bringing all of the confusing subplots together. Diehard fans, I’m afraid, will be disappointed. Oh yes, the minions are still there, but they aren’t as funny either.

My grade: D

Running time is 90 minutes.