By Megan Ruge, Co-editor in Chief
“Despicable Me 3” was the children’s movie of the summer. Acquiring some $72 million at the box office in its opening weekend, the third film in the franchise made a name for itself, proving that sequels can stand against the original films.
The films follows a villain named Gru who is getting old in the world of villainy and realizes he must pull a big stunt to recapture the eyes of the world. To help carry out his plan, Gru adopts three girls. While trying to exploit their cuteness for world domination, Gru falls in love with parenting and inevitably leaves villainy behind in pursuit of a domestic lifestyle for his new family.
After his retirement from all things evil, Gru is invited to work for the Anti-Villain League (AVL) as an under-cover agent. He is partnered with a quirky red head named Lucy. Gru and Lucy fall in love while working to take down a spicy villain.
“Despicable Me 3” reintroduces Gru and his new wife Lucy. Still working together for the AVL, Lucy and Gru find themselves facing their toughest villain yet: Balthazar Bratt. Bratt was the star of an ‘80s TV show about an evil kid bent on world domination.
Washed up and kicked out of Hollywood, Bratt becomes bent on revenge.
While trying to handle this new evil, Gru has family drama to worry about. He finds out that he has a long-lost twin brother who wants nothing more to meet him and tell him all about the family business.
The film stands well on its own because the storyline follows the same pattern as the original but builds off of it as well. The original film presented a nemesis and a love angle that complicated Gru’s plan and made it difficult to carry, thus the great “struggle” of the film began. In this film, Bratt is the great nemesis and his brother presents the com- plicated love angle.
Evil came easily to Gru at first; he only had his own interest at heart. He didn’t have anyone to worry about except for himself.
Throughout the film series, Gru gains responsibilities and in turn must think about how the consequences of his actions will affect the people he cares about. In the first film, he sees first-hand how his plot to steal the moon affects the three young girls he’s come to love. And as the films go on, Gru finds that as he gains loved ones, he also gains the responsibility of thinking about others before himself.
As the film progresses, Gru is strapped with an ethical decision in which he must decide to lie for the greater good and divide new bonds, or tell the truth and ultimately look bad. Of course, it is up to the viewer to decide whether Gru makes the right decision, but this time he must first weigh the safety of his wife and children as well as weigh the fate of his relationship with his brother. This aspect not only make for a good story, but pleases adult audiences.
Of course, to entertain the children, there must be a reoccurring element of silly humor. That element is the famous Minions, the little yellow creatures that follow bad around likes it’s their job. This time, fed up with the absence of villainy, the Minions leave Gru and family in pursuit of evil. When a musical mishap has the minions in hot water, they find themselves taking a trip to lockup where they will have a lot of time to think about what really matters to them: villainy or family.
With an accumulation factor that allows the film to completely redo its original storyline and still make bank at box office, “Despicable Me 3” stands well as one of the summer’s greatest children’s films to hit the big screen. Though the film’s unique animation and loveable characters already had a name in many households, this film became a second best to the original. I give this film a 4 out of 5 stars.
