Despicable Me 3
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 30, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
19
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 29, 2017
Carell is the life of the party and the main reason this animated blast of slapstick silliness packs appeal beyond the PG crowd. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJun 29, 2017
What shines through is the visual wit and innate sweetness of the storytelling, and Carell’s cackling, cueball-skulled misanthrope — a (mostly) reformed scoundrel who can still have his cake, and arsenic too. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Jun 28, 2017
The film has to rush at the end, to wrap up all these different stories, and it still leaves one of them open-ended. It’s possible that they ran out of time. But it’s more likely that another sequel is already planned. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerJun 15, 2017
It’s an if-it-ain’t-broke-then-don’t-fix-it approach that works just fine if you’re simply looking to take another ride on the rollercoaster. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 15, 2017
Yes, Despicable Me 3 is unwieldy, but it mostly works, as co-directors Pierre Coffin (who also voices the Minions) and Kyle Balda never lose sight of the film’s emotional center, packing the rest with as much humor as they can manage. Read full review
67
The Film StageChelsey GrassoJul 10, 2017
Simply put, it probably won’t restore your faith in studio animation. But it may make you laugh. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 30, 2017
Despicable Me 3 doubles down on Steve Carell's silly way with words, a smart idea after too much Minions gibberish spoiled Part 2. They're still here, in smaller doses and somewhat funnier for it. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 30, 2017
Despicable Me 3 is an example of how even the most promising animated franchises can hit a wall if allowed to continue too long. Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonJun 30, 2017
What keeps the movie watchable, for the most part, are the one-off flourishes built around incidental characters. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoJun 28, 2017
The laughs here are more about the colorfully zany action than the ho-hum material the cast gets. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJun 28, 2017
It’s a standard kiddie cartoon: noisy, colorful and forgettable. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonJun 28, 2017
If all this wackiness is only occasionally laugh-out-loud funny—the ‘80s references feel particularly played out—it’s nonetheless executed with good-natured breeziness. Read full review
60
Total FilmNeil SmithAug 11, 2017
An only moderately entertaining threequel that assumes a double dose of Carell will make up for missing Minions. It doesn’t. Read full review
60
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJun 29, 2017
Even parents who found the earlier outings reasonably tolerable may find themselves making excuses to linger longer at the concession stand. Read full review
60
The GuardianAndrew PulverJun 27, 2017
Despicable Me 3 will certainly keep the younger elements of its audience happy, with its dose of aspartame-rush hyperactivity. But for everyone else it may prove decent rather than captivating. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJun 27, 2017
The brothers' mission is like a Spy vs. Spy strip crossed with a Friz Freleng Pink Panther cartoon.... It’s consistently funny, with the kind of well-orchestrated slapstick moments where you can actually feel the stick slap. Read full review
60
EmpireJonathan PileJun 26, 2017
The third Despicable Me film chronologically is also the third-best in terms of quality. But it has just enough energy and flashes of inspiration to suggest it’s a franchise that could run and run. Read full review
60
IGNAlex WelchJun 26, 2017
Thanks to the charming nature of the characters and their genuine good heartedness, Despicable Me 3 manages to be an entertaining enough film to feel like a decent continuation of the previous two chapters. Read full review
58
The PlaylistWill AshtonJul 10, 2017
Despicable Me 3 is sadly a discouraging, hollow sequel that’s hard to love. Read full review
50
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Jul 10, 2017
As much as I love to harp on Despicable Me 3’s lazy and cynical execution, this is a fairly inoffensive, zippy and colorful time-waster for the little ones. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorJun 29, 2017
A splashy ending does something to redeem the action before setting up the characters for a potential sequel but who needs more Dru? Read full review
50
The New York TimesAndy WebsterJun 29, 2017
The latest animated Despicable Me outing shows signs of wear even as its energy level escalates. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 29, 2017
There are some funny parts, of course, because the cast is so talented. But it’s too much work for too little payoff — sound and fury signifying nothing. Nothing but Minion fart jokes. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 29, 2017
Despicable Me 3 disappoints, if only mildly, not because it’s bad, but because it only aspires to be good enough. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoJun 29, 2017
Despicable Me 3 hits a supervillain high with Balthazar Bratt, but also a franchise low as far as Gru and Dru's brotherly reunion is concerned. Read full review
50
ConsequenceBlake GobleJun 28, 2017
This is a mild return to franchise form, which is like saying that one of the descending plane’s jets started working again. Despicable? No. Deal-able? Sure. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 28, 2017
Does the sight of a mulleted figure in shoulder pads blasting away his foes with a weaponized keytar sound mildly amusing? Congratulations, you’ll be able to sit through this. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisJun 28, 2017
In the end, though, the movie’s superior craftsmanship can’t overcome its aura of joylessness. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 28, 2017
One more pan dipped into the Supervillain Gru goldmine shows this Illumination franchise is a claim that’s petered out, with no fresh ideas — no funny ones, anyway. Read full review
42
IndieWireKate ErblandJun 28, 2017
The whiz-bang joy of the first film is wholly absent, and Despicable Me 3 limps along for nearly an hour before finding its footing. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonJun 28, 2017
Despicable Me 3 suffers both from a lack of new ideas – there are no memorable gags or action set-pieces, just a lot of flying about and yelling – and from an assumption that the audience is already invested enough to care about what happens. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiJun 29, 2017
A depressingly rote piece of corporate product that has so little on its mind other than presumably making hundreds of millions of dollars that you half expect the ticket sellers to hand out copies of Comcast’s latest earnings report along with the 3-D glasses. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJun 29, 2017
The whole thing might as well all be written in Minions chatter. It's wacky, but somehow dull, kind of like conversing with a Minion. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJun 28, 2017
The third time is definitely not the charm. Read full review
30
Screen DailyTim GriersonJun 27, 2017
Two Steve Carells most assuredly aren’t better than one in Despicable Me 3, a winded sequel which is cloying when it isn’t exhaustingly frenetic. Read full review
20
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 29, 2017
There's little refreshing or charming about it. Read full review
10
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 29, 2017
Under the pretext of offering fun for the whole family, the movie winds up doing almost precisely the opposite; its attempts at grown-up sophistication and cheeky, knowing humor are clueless and hectoring enough to leave any adult in the audience wishing they’d been straight-up ignored. Read full review
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