Disclaimer: The Fandads teamed up with Fandango for this giveaway. All thoughts and opinions are our own and no, a minion does not have a fart gun to our heads so we say good things about the movie.
When you see Gru and the Minions on the big screen you know that you will be in for a good and silly time. In this third movie of the series we not only get the silliness that we are used to with the minions, but we also get a little bit of heart in the story between Gru and his brother Dru. Don’t worry, it’s not as sappy as it sounds.
Despicable Me 3 is five stories in one: the story about Gru finding his brother Dru, Gru trying to take down the super villain Balthazar Bratt, Lucy trying to find her role as the mother to Gru’s daughters, Agnes trying to find a unicorn after seeing a unicorn horn in a bar and the minions turning their backs on Gru. Yeah that’s a lot of subplots, but they all work out and are resolved before the movie ends.
The backstory between Gru and his brother is that their parents divorced and each parent took one child. In the way Gru’s mother is disappointed in Gru, Dru’s father was disappointed in him. Dru wants to be a super villain like his father and brother and asks Dru for help in achieving this goal. The way these two characters bond is pretty hilarious especially a scene in which they try to fool Lucy and the girls.
Although Gru gave up his life of crime when he joined the AVL (Anti-Villain League) he is eventually fired because he fails to capture Balthazar Bratt. Bratt is a former child star that decides to become a villain when his television show is canceled. The character still lives in the 80’s with his fashion and music and has easily become one of my favorite animated movie villains to date. It’s kind of funny that his sidekick is a small robot that reminds me of the Alphie robot I had when I was younger. Just take a look at the robot below and then the picture of Alphie.
I remember when I first saw the trailer with the reveal about Gru’s brother, I thought “Ok, this is going to be silly. How is this going to work?” Yes, I was a little bit cynical about this whole storyline, but it really worked and seeing the contrast between Gru, who is always pretty much grumpy and Dru, who is full of energy and has a kind of high-pitched voice was fun to see on the screen. Dru’s first big heist is a rush for him, but to Gru it’s like “Really, that’s what you are stealing?”
Not to give too much away from the movie, it all boils down to “belonging and finding your place in the world” (kind of like another movie we saw this week). Dru feels like he is a failure because he never got the attention from his father and Lucy is still trying to find her place as a mother in Gru’s family. Let’s also not forget about Mel the minion’s journey to see if he can survive without Gru.
There are only a few trilogies that work and this third installment of Despicable Me does not disappoint. There are some great nods to the previous films and a funny way to explain why Russell Brand’s character Dr. Nefario is not in this movie. Will there be more movies after this one? The movie kind of leaves the door open to that possibility.
Kid Friendly – This movie is very funny with the minions have a lot of the funnier bits in the movie. There is a naked Gru, which is shown in the trailers and the minions joking about a statue they see. My sone who is four sat through the entire movie and could not keep his eyes off of the screen.
Violence – There is some animated violence in the form of a “Dance Fight” between Gru and Bratt. A few punches and kicks are thrown during the fight.
Fandads Rating – 5 out of 5
The Fandads have teamed up with Fandango to give five of our readers a $25 Despicable Me 3 gift card that you can use for your next movie outing with your family. To win one of these gift cards we are going to take a note from Balthazar Bratt’s playbook and ask you “What 80’s song would be your super villain theme song?” Place your answer in the comments below and a winner will be picked on July 7th. Make sure you come back to see if you won.
