Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The Rotunda Online
The Rotunda
Saturday, July 26, 2025

The Reel Life: "Despicable Me 3"

53b106673abed500ac1c5855eeb4b767
"Despicable Me 3" (2017)

With over $3 billion at the worldwide box office, the “Despicable Me” franchise shows no signs of slowing down. Now, with the third film in the main series, can a new villain, a new family member, and a dose of 80’s themed humor help the franchise stay afloat, or has the series finally become despicable?

Illumination Entertainment has this unique ability to make incredibly detailed animation at a relatively small budget, and their talent continues to show in “Me 3.” Water shines and ripples realistically, skin is lifelike, and the entire world overflows with colors. This detail doesn’t sacrifice any of the films wacky energy though, as the character still move with a rubber, looney tune-esque quality.

Unfortunately, the films plot just isn’t interesting enough to sustain this kind of high energy. There are so many subplots happening at once, that it just becomes tiring. It’s sad to see a franchise that has so much wacky potential chose to go for simple stories that just become predicable and boring the longer they go on.

The standouts story-wise are the Minions, and they continue to give the audience glimpse of what this series could be, if it just embraced its silliness instead of its dullness. A new villain does help to spice things up, however.

Trey Parker (“South Park”) is Balthazar Bratt, a former 80’s child star who has convinced himself that his old TV show is real and that he is really a villain. His lair is a giant Rubix cube, his sidekick is a robot butler, and he has an army of action figure based on his character.

The character is the best villain in the entire series, as he provides some great humor and gives way to the most detailed animation in the film, with his action figures and bubble gum bubbles looking almost photo realistic. He also has the best vocal performance in the entire film, thanks to Parker’s manic and dedicated delivery. While he is a joy to watch, his high energy can’t save the films boring and mediocre script.

Steve Carell and Kristen Wigg just sound like they’re phoning it in, and the rest of the characters are so scattershot that they aren’t even worth mentioning. The subplots are all over the place, and the third act consists of about 20 minutes of quick fights and quicker resolutions. Honestly, the cool “Spy vs. Spy” styled animation over the credits was the most interesting part of the entire film.

While it can’t be called downright bad, “Despicable Me 3” is just painfully mediocre. Despite a great villain and detailed animation, the film flops due to a boring script, too many subplots, and a rushed ending. If Illumination wants to keep this franchise going, they may have to take the training wheels off and embrace their bizarre sense of humor more. Because when they don’t, it isn’t despicable. It’s just boring. 2/5