Like what I mentioned before, I'm not going to ignore how bad a movie is because I wasn't the intended audience. Think about a man who goes to watch movies in order to gain some miniscule substance whatsoever, only to meet this. A movie can be entertaining for children, but you're missing the point:
A: Respect children as an audience and give them something substantial
B: Write progressive themes in the sequels that could be validated later on down the line
C: Show them a sequel that actually needs to exist, unlike this.
Folks, this was a waste and by far, the worst out of the whole franchise. While you're imagining the Minions in Dumb Ways to Die montages, you're really not thinking about how tiresome, repetitive and outright empty this film is. The Minions movies gave us new neat premises so what does this movie deliver?
After gets fired from stopping eighties' fan boy villain, Balthazar Brat, he discovers a long lost brother named Dru. Moving to Freedonia, Dru expresses his fondness for Gru's former villain role, causing the main to use his inventory to get back at the villain and redeem himself.
Nothing happens. Just watch the first two movies as this was merely trying to be that outcast family member desperately attempting to live up to their older siblings' legacies and join the photo, which is perfectly echoed here. When Gru discovers his twin, the film teases us like puppies by showing us what could happen and then not pulling through. Upon the shift in location, it felt like Gru and Dru would have something cooking where the new sibling desires to know how to be a villain. While this could amount to an interesting return, we're given one chase scene in particular and a home invasion that's far too painful to watch.
Eventually, we resort to a sudden third act breakup where Gru rather cruelly disowns Dru, before they immediately reconcile in their battle against the villain. Their whole breakup fails in various ways as Gru sporadically breaks character and we're supposed to feel sympathetic for Dru, only for the film to clear his name.
I would say more of the plot if the film dared to give us one as the third movie of this franchise, where its more pointlessly character-driven. I suppose I could shed some light on the quality for its upbeat opening as honestly, that was the only enjoyable aspect, where it caused me to think whether this film was going to be a fun yet decent middle-of-the-road chapter. Well, kicking myself for even allowing the beginning to convince me otherwise, I was, in fact, far too uninterested in the duration of its animation as mainly all of its fast-paced chase and heist sequences amounted to nothing.
If you liked Lucy, I'm not sure whether your opinion would maintain; here, she tries to be a good mother towards the girls, only to take that role seriously. However; unlike her taking her job to the extreme, she doesn't exactly shine as the ideal role model, where she tries to make Margo dance with a cheese-obseessed boy against her wishes. We do have an outcome of Lucy standing her ground when that little misunderstanding comes back to bite them and then that's the whole chapter conclusion.
Even worse, she's once again captured, only that its the simple 'tied up in the closet' routine. Did they really not have anything for her?
As for the girls, they're as forgettable here where the studio just placed them in the movie in order to remind the audience that they still exist. While Margo gets roped into the Lucy subplot, both Edith and Agnes attempt to find a unicorn in the forest.
Do they find one where it would finally shut the little dreamer up? Well yes and no, but do you care?
Hope you won't have any connection to Dr. Nefario as he's just frozen in carbonate. They also got rid of Ramsbottom in the movie to make way for the entitled replacement.
Now, we finally arrive at Dru, one of the most annoying characters I've seen in animation. The makers really thought about getting a clone of Gru and then hiring Carell to give him a higher pitch. The idea was bad enough with an irritable execution. What bothered was how they built up Dru and then do very little with him at possible, until a certain point which I'll address afterwards. They wrote Dru to be obsessed with his father's legacy, containing the supplies and outfit, but is lacking Gru's "know-how". When the two teamed up together, you'd expect Dru to coax him into villainy again, maybe with the twist of Gru missing his old glory.
However, that would be way too much thinking on their part so why not just have Dru resort to a simple-minded bull in a china shop and wreck their progression? Not only does he screw up at every opportunity but the film tossed any chance out of the window.
Here's the main problem; Dru is an utter annoyance so you'd be on Gru's side here. However, the layout so manipulates you to root for Dru, where he eventually pays off in the very final battle. That was it. There's your redemption arc, folks. You are so made to believe that deep down, Dru legitimately cared and could do so much more than a insignificant trust fund baby.
The most baffling and yet so wasteful aspects of Dru was by the very ending, he decides to become a fully-fledged villain. During the credits, we see Gru attempt to apprehended Dru, only to be outmatched at nearly corner. This was an utter insult to me at only at that point, the film decided to show off the useless type's technique. I was actually bedazzled by this sort of alteration as out of nowhere, Dru was capable of holding his ground as a fully-fledged nemesis.
So, where was this for the entire feature? Why did we have to sit down and watch this man fetus and not watch a depiction of Spy vs. Spy?
As for the villain, Balthazar Brat, I really wanted to like him solely for the whole casting choice of South Park's creator, Trey Parker; this choice was a eighties' child star who had his own television show and merchandise, before being cancelled. Refusing to accept his status as a has-been, Balthazar plots to dominate the world with his mechanical suit. The idea alone had potential where for the duration, it was mainly Parker acting as the 'member this and that' and quoting line. Overall, the performance was on point, but the character was just the table scraps of Vector without any sort of material. Instead, we're gifted a former child star of his own cancelled show that wanted to gain revenge. The idea was there and the whole backstory was on-point so what was really missing? The fact that this villain didn't do anything in the entire duration. Besides having a fun introduction which convinced me to believe that perhaps he was the only saving grace, he spent the entire movie doing nothing but sitting around and planning his entire scheme, before making his mark in the climax.
While Vector mainly chilled in his mansion, his appearances were superior as he clearly established the rivalry between Gru and maintained his spot. Yes, Balthazar made his mark from the start but then by the middle, nothing else came from him.
Regarding the Minions, they're given their own subplot for once, choosing to go down a path of villainy as Gru no longer has what it takes to be one. The Minions are them thrown in prison where they rule the roost and scare criminals into doing their bidding, only to miss their old boss and return. Did it need to be there? Why would I ask you?
At this point, I should be asking whether this was really intended to be a movie as these plots I expect to see in a series of some sort. It probably wouldn't have been all groundbreaking but with how episodic and unconnected these plots were, why couldn't they make a series at all? I recalled some shorts, so why not?
This was a nothing movie, besides a solid yet misleading opening. I wouldn't even dare say that this is ideal to keep your younglings away in order to give them some space as there's other films to pay attention to.
Final Rating: F
2/10
