Despicable Me 3 | What to Watch

(Image credit: SKY © 2017 Universal Studios. A)

Steve Carell's supervillain-turned-goodie, Gru, is back for a second animated comedy sequel

Steve Carell's supervillain-turned-goodie, Gru, is back for a second animated comedy sequel.

Gru has turned his back on crime in favour of adoptive fatherhood, marriage and work for the Anti-Villain League. But trouble comes his way in the form of former child star Balthazar Bratt (voiced by South Park co-creator Trey Parker), who has gone bad after the onset of adolescence ruined his screen career. And Gru has to deal with further bother when he discovers he has a long-lost twin brother, Dru (also hilariously voiced by Carrell), who is itching for his own life of crime.

The film has fun nostalgically ribbing the fashion and music of Bratt's 1980s heyday, with digs at mullets and shoulder pads, and snatches of Bad, Take My Breath Away and 99 Luftballons.

Once again, though, it is the cutely bizarre antics of Gru's mischievous sidekicks, the Minions, that steal the show. The spectacle of them performing an inimitable version of I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General, the famous patter song from The Pirates of Penzance, gives the greatest pleasure.