118.
Despicable Me 3
6.5/10
So, it's time for a cheeky animation again and I've seen the two that came before this along with the spin-off of the Minions Movie. They are a bit of a guilty pleasure even if they aren't everyone's cup of tea. Producing some chuckles and memorable sayings with their surprisingly good cast and use of the worldwide phenomenon which are the Minions. Hopefully this will be more than just an unneeded third in the franchise, otherwise that would just be bananas!
The film begins with a TV reporter talking about and old show about a terror of a boy called Balthazar Bratt. He was the lead of a show called Evil Bratt about a young boy who was a criminal mastermind but when puberty hit, he was cancelled. Bratt lost his mind, believing that he was the true character and no-one knows where he is now. Fast forward many years and Bratt and his sidekick robot are staking out a ship which is carrying the world's largest diamond. Putting on his heist music, which compile of 80's hits, he sets off for the robbery. He uses inflating bubble gum to attack the guards along with a rubix cube that turns into a bomb. Bratt is voiced by Trey Parker and is one of the main reason why I was looking forward to seeing this movie. I love South Park, which he massively helped create and voice, so seeing his part in this movie was a must, even if it will be a lot more subdued. On his tail are our hero and heroine, Gru and Lucy, in their little submarines and eventually turning them into bikes and riding the waves until Gru is shot on board as the ship floats away thanks to the bubble gum balloons. Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig are back as the newlyweds working as secret agents. Following them two are also two minions. Bratt has his hands on the diamond on deck now and is ready to escape as Gru and him have a standoff and a dance fight. Bratt brings out a keyboard which sends Gru flying and his clothes flying off too. Another classic song is powering out and I'm really getting into this. Gru is left dangling off the ship by some bubble gum acting as a thong but the main thing is that he has the diamond. Bratt, in the meantime, has escaped and Gru goes passed some windows and acts as a birthday treat for a guy's birthday inside the building.
Gru and Lucy head in to Head Quarters with the diamond looking for a reward but there is a huge meeting as their Director Silas is retiring and being replaced by Valerie Da Vinci. Her first act is to question Gru in front of everyone as to how Bratt got away and because of this, she sacks him. Lucy quits too, being committed to her team. They are both ejected from the blimp and head off to try and start a normal life. Getting home the find out that their three daughters have set up the treehouse as a honeymoon because the couple never had one. The end up admitting that they got fired when the girls see how sad they both are, but promise to sort things out. The night rolls on and Gru heads down to his lab where we are shown that Dr. Nefario has frozen himself Han Solo style in carbonite. Maybe Russell Brand didn't fancy this one. Mel, the leader of the minions wants to start back as a villain again but Gru flat out refuses. Using a humorous slide show to show how Gru has changed over the years, they are not happy and instead quit, leaving the lab altogether to hit the streets. Jerry and Tim, the two minions from earlier are left in charge, simply because they weren't in the room for the revolt. In Paris, a diamond expert has headed to the museum to make sure that the massive diamond is real. He's a right fat fella and I've already guessed that because of his size, this is surely Bratt in disguise and bingo, there he is. Blow darting the guards, he deflates and uses a disco ball shaped grapple to escape.
The next morning, Gru picks up a newspaper to see the news about Bratt whilst also noticing that Agnes, the youngest daughter, has set up a stall to sell her toys including her favourite stuffed unicorn. She says that she is just trying to help out by getting some money in the pockets. Gru is approached by an old looking butler called Fritz who is played by Steve Coogan, but doesn't want to know what he has to say so sends him flying off on a rocket vacuum. The man limps back in defiance to let him know that Gru's twin brother has requested they meet now that his father has passed away. Gru clearly doesn't believe after being told that his father died when he was young but a photo is produced showing him and his brother Dru, also played by Coogan. He visits his mother to ask why, to which she admits that in the divorce, they took a twin each and she got the second pick. The family and two minions are flown to Fredonia where Dru owns a pig farm as the family business. Turns out the guy has a mansion, plenty of vehicles and is hugely wealthy. He even has a full set of blonde hair to go along with it. Lucy and the girls head into town with the butler whilst the brothers have a catch up. Lucy is struggling with becoming a mom and feels this is vital time she can use on the topic. In town, they are thrust into a festival of cheese and the two younger girls wan candy to which Lucy simple buys. Margo explains that Lucy can say no to the girls. She puts this into action when she wants Margo to join in a dance with a lonely guy. Meanwhile Agnes and Edith sneak off to a pub named after a unicorn, to find out if there is an evidence of one. They find a horn on display and after a story off the crazy barman, Agnes lets out an excited scream. Lucy leaps into action attacking everyone in sight with her crazy skills, crossed with a mother's intuition.
Back at the mansion we walk down a hallway with the two brothers and see a lot of statues of their family, all with the same ugly faces but also all villains. Inside Dru's own lab is a picture of their father looking like a James's Bond villain, which Gru knew nothing about. Dru tells the story of how their father was disappointed that Dru wasn't villainous enough. Looks like both parents had the wrong child. Wanting his brother to help out, Gru once again refuses, saying that that life is in his past. Dru brings up a high-tech car to try and tempt his brother and seem to succeed as they high tail it into town.
The minions turn to fill in some story now and they have found a movie lot but are chased behind the scene by security guards until they find themselves on stage during a live singing talent show. They give out a musical number to a standing ovation but are all soon arrested and a great sequence is set in motion. Bratt is getting ready to put his main, evil plan in motion with the diamond and we see an advert for his old toy's which shot lasers from their heads. The plan is like one of his best episodes. He is going to create a giant robot of himself, use the laser to cut around Hollywood and send it into space with his inflating bubble gum. Such a believable plan. There is a knock on Dru's door and it's the little boy from the cheese festival that Margo was made to interact with. Apparently eating his cheese means they are now meant to be engaged. Margo turns him down only for his mother to show up and shout the odds. Lucy steps in and threatens the woman until she leaves and has now won the respect of her oldest daughter. Agnes and Edith have decided to follow the barman's story and gone into the forest to seek a unicorn for themselves and catch it by using sweets. Agnes doesn't want to give up and with luck, a rustle in the bushes and excited leaps, out comes a one horned goat that Agnes thinks is a unicorn so names it lucky. Edith refuses to break her heart and tell her the truth, so they head home.
Now that Gru has his passion back, he wants to use Dru's equipment to steal the diamond from Bratt, but instead of keeping it, he wants to hand it in to get his old job back. After explaining that the lair has poisonous spikes and heat seeking missiles, Dru brings out some gadgets and spy suits that their father left. Back to the minions and they are now all in jail going through the motions but have already taken over from the bigger inmates. Mel misses Gru and orders everyone to start making a plane for them all to escape and get back to their real leader. The brothers fly to Bratt's hideout which is a tall purple building with a massive rubix cube on top and with some hilarious climbing from the failure of a villain Dru, they finally make it into the bedroom where the main villain is sleeping with his diamond. He wakes just as the two are sneaking out with the jewel and send the Bratt pack after them. A hundred little toys of Evil Bratt which run them out of the building and as they are falling to the spikes, Lucy, who spotted them leaving, saves them from certain death. Gru tells her that there was no evil intentions and that he was going to hand it in and in the back of the chopper we see Dru isn't taking this news too well. They get back to the lab and the brothers have a sibling fight and decide to part ways. Lucy grabs the diamond and the girls as they set off home and once the plane door is closed Lucy starts tugging at her nose. It's Bratt again obviously and he has the diamond and hostages, along with a plane that can head to Hollywood. Setting his massive robot loose, with the girls held in his stomach, he begins to cut through the rock with the laser and throwing bubble gum from his shoulder pads onto the buildings and its citizens. The real Lucy is tied up and once Gru hears the muffling and what's gone on, he heads back down to Dru for his help, which he instantly gets. Knowing that his only family is in danger, makes him realise what is more important. The gum is now raising up as the team flies in to try and save the day. As they fly. the minions pass and instantly turn around to follow, dropping all of their passengers onto the bubbles. By now the robot has put its prisoners onto a roof top which I damaged and starting to fall so Lucy runs along the bubbles to save the girls and the goat. The plane turns into a car which crashes and knocks Gru outers and Bratt points his laser at his nemesis to kill him once and for all. Dru climbs up and punches through in order to rip some wires out and save his brother. Bratt comes crashing down to Gru, no awake, challenging him to a final dance fight. Gru steals the keyboard and this time uses it for himself with some more tunes blasting. The Anti-villain league has now shown up to capture him, just as the minions pop the giant bubbles and are sent into the sky from the explosion.
Returning back home after a long trip, the family celebrate the parents getting their jobs back. Lucy has earned the girls love and Dru is staying with the family. The only change is that the minions will now follow Dru in his villainous plans. They take Gru's famous silver rocket car as Lucy and Gru watch them take off, deciding how long they will leave it before they track him down.
This was a decent filler film for my movie watching days. It could be the case that it is the final one, or now the brothers will be nemeses. I enjoyed the use of music in the movie for each scene with Bratt and all I could actually hear was Randy Marsh from South Park, which isn't a bad thing at all. The humour was its usual light self along with the use of the minions which kids will love. It's such a money train right now that I don't see it stopping any time soon. If this was the final film, it will be a good place to leave it with the family back together and the minions have finally moved on. As usual, the Universal style animation, with extended facial features and obscure shapes regarding the main characters was plain to see and it's interesting to see that everything else involved is made to look normal. I had a giggle, I had a watch and enjoyed.
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