Once again, Steve Carell proves he's better at doing CGI voice-overs than he is at live-action comedy.
The movie begins with a retrospective news story about Balthazar Bratt; an ex-child TV star gone bad (Holy Danny Partridge, Batman!). Followed by the super-villainous, middle-aged version going after the world's biggest diamond in the modern day. When Gru and Lucy fail to capture him, however, it turns out that this is the _third_ such disastrous confrontation.
Result; termination of employment with extreme (though non-lethal) prejudice.
The rest of the film is like a cross between Disney's THE INCREDIBLES and the Ah-nuld/Devito comedy TWINS. Carell does an admittedly good job making Drew appear to be a more naive/less competent version of Old Gru (the villainous one from the first film) simply by using a shriller voice combined with wavy-blond CGI hair! So, who better to help him overcome that handicap than his long-lost brother who once stole the Moon, itself?
Speaking of shrill voices; once again, the Minions are voiced--at higher RPM's--by French executive producer Pierre Coffin. Although, the sub-plot about their going to prison for loitering and trespassing wasn't as hilarious as it could have been, I still got a kick out of the French version of that old Gilbert and Sullivan classic, "The Modern Major General."
I also loved Julie Andrews' cameo "appearance" as the voice of Gru's mother (now a cougar-ish dowager). Priceless!
But, of course, what really stole the show (as in the first two films) was the lovability of Little Agnes. This time, on the hunt for a "really live unicorn."
Add all of the above--plus some STAR WARS and Marx Brothers references-- to a toe-tapping, finger-snapping, head-bobbing sound track from the Eighties (back when MTV actually lived up to the name "Music Television") and you've got another winner from Sony/Illumination.
The movie begins with a retrospective news story about Balthazar Bratt; an ex-child TV star gone bad (Holy Danny Partridge, Batman!). Followed by the super-villainous, middle-aged version going after the world's biggest diamond in the modern day. When Gru and Lucy fail to capture him, however, it turns out that this is the _third_ such disastrous confrontation.
Result; termination of employment with extreme (though non-lethal) prejudice.
The rest of the film is like a cross between Disney's THE INCREDIBLES and the Ah-nuld/Devito comedy TWINS. Carell does an admittedly good job making Drew appear to be a more naive/less competent version of Old Gru (the villainous one from the first film) simply by using a shriller voice combined with wavy-blond CGI hair! So, who better to help him overcome that handicap than his long-lost brother who once stole the Moon, itself?
Speaking of shrill voices; once again, the Minions are voiced--at higher RPM's--by French executive producer Pierre Coffin. Although, the sub-plot about their going to prison for loitering and trespassing wasn't as hilarious as it could have been, I still got a kick out of the French version of that old Gilbert and Sullivan classic, "The Modern Major General."
I also loved Julie Andrews' cameo "appearance" as the voice of Gru's mother (now a cougar-ish dowager). Priceless!
But, of course, what really stole the show (as in the first two films) was the lovability of Little Agnes. This time, on the hunt for a "really live unicorn."
Add all of the above--plus some STAR WARS and Marx Brothers references-- to a toe-tapping, finger-snapping, head-bobbing sound track from the Eighties (back when MTV actually lived up to the name "Music Television") and you've got another winner from Sony/Illumination.