True Gru

Gru, the supervillain turned adoptive dad of three girls, is back in the entertaining Despicable Me 3. The series’ bland 2015 spinoff, Minions, showed the little yellow imps aren’t stars enough for their own movie. Rather, it’s Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) who makes the films. Add in two new kooky characters, fantastic animation, and toe-tapping music, and the franchise returns to its winning ways, although with less of its trademark dark humor. Sadly, several gratuitous crudities spoil the party.

In this film, Gru’s a new man. But the Anti-Villain League (AVL) fires him when he fails to capture the criminal Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker). The mullet-wearing, moonwalking Bratt, an ’80s child TV star who grew bitter after his show was canceled, has stolen the world’s largest diamond. The gem powers a giant robot the revenge-minded Bratt is going to turn loose on Hollywood.

Gru learns he has a long-lost twin, Dru (also Carell), who is inept at villainy. Gru does the brotherly thing and lets the bumbling Dru help him retrieve the diamond. Gru plans to turn the diamond over to AVL to earn his job back, but Dru is scheming a career in crime.

Although the Minions have a lesser role in this film, they amuse with a prison break and an appearance in a televised singing competition. AVL agent Lucy (Kristen Wiig), who married Gru at the end of Despicable Me 2, is learning how to balance work and parenting. She doesn’t regret her new duties. “I’m a mom. I’m a mom!” Lucy exclaims when Agnes hugs her.

The soundtrack rocks with Gen-X pleasers (Michael Jackson, Dire Straits, Van Halen) and Pharrell Williams’ catchy new compositions. Bare backsides and other suggestive bits mar the PG-rated film, but, with dance fights between Gru and Bratt and jabs at celebrity culture, Despicable Me 3 offers plenty of inoffensive laughs.