Despicable Me 3 Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

The third and certainly-not-final entry into the Despicable Me franchise is here, and though reviews haven't been as kind to it as the previous two efforts, it's still being broadly praised as a mostly satisfying follow-up that delivers what fans both want and expect.

Good or bad, the movie was always going to be a box office juggernaut, but it's a relief to see that Illumination also put the creative leg-work into this sequel rather than just getting lazy as occurs so often with second sequels, especially in the animated realm.

It's not going to change hearts and minds about these characters in any way (especially the Minions), but did you ever really expect it to? Go in with reasonable expectations, and Despicable Me 3 delivers the basic goods...

Downs...

4. Dru Is A Boring Sidekick

One of the movie's big new hooks is the introduction of Gru's blonde-haired, long-lost twin brother Dru, who wishes to become a villain just like Gru. While it's a ripe enough idea, it's not really developed in a way that does much for the character of Gru, and it's also nowhere near as funny as you might hope for.

The main problem is that Dru doesn't really have much of a character or personality of his own beyond being rich, wanting to be a villain and basically being terrible at it. The film doesn't even exploit the newfound fraternal bond for some easy emotion, strangely, and this subplot just ends up feeling a little piecemeal and underwhelming on the whole.