Third time’s just as charming for Despicable Me franchise as Gru and his Minions still steal hearts

REVIEW: Gru and his Minions are back for a third film in the animated franchise that almost matches the original in its ability to excite and delight.

DESPICABLE ME 3 (PG)

Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin

Starring: the voices of Steve Carell, Trey Parker, Pierre Coffin, Kristen Wiig

Rating: Three-and-a-half stars

Verdict: A good dad, his bad bro and a complete Bratt

SO the pressure is on the Despicable Me camp this time around.

Not only has it been four years since the last one (an eternity in the kids’ animation business). After going solo with their own movie in 2015, the franchise’s serial scene stealers the Minions are now a major box-office force in their own right.

However, it only takes mere minutes for that pressure to dissipate. A winningly amusing and action-packed pre-credits sequence is the first of several indications that Despicable Me 3 will go close to matching the original in its ability to engage, excite and delight.

While the curmudgeonly Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) has changed his evil ways and is now a family man, that is not about to stop his long-lost bad-boy brother Dru (Carell again) from trying to coax him back to the dark side.

Gru meets his long-lost twin bother Dru (both voiced by Steve Carell) in Despicable Me 3.

With the Minions spending much of the movie serving prison time (spoiler alert: there will be a jailbreak!) the best scenes and biggest laughs belong to the all-new supervillain Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), the most sinister former child star of all time.

There will come a time where the whole Despicable Me thing will go the way of Ice Age, and all involved will be doing it purely for the payday.

For now, though, the franchise remains in robust health on all fronts. Even the filler material that gives storyline second-stringers like Gru’s missus and his kids something to do is handled with real energy and enthusiasm.

Originally published as Third time’s just as charming for Despicable Me franchise as Gru and his Minions still steal hearts