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The animated "Despicable Me 3" proves there's one tactical advantage to making children's movies: The target audience is too young to know the sources of the better, funnier movies that are being ripped off.
This hodgepodge of tired ideas begins with ex-supervillain Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) and his secret-agent wife, Lucy (voiced by Kristen Wiig), facing their current nemesis. He's Balthazar Bratt (voiced by "South Park" co-creator Trey Parker), a former '80s child star who assumed the identity of his evil TV character, right down to the mullet and shoulder pads.
Gru and Lucy thwart Bratt's heist of a giant pink diamond ("The Pink Panther," anyone?), but Bratt gets away — prompting the new head of the Anti-Villain League, Valerie da Vinci (voiced by Jenny Slate), to fire them.
Gru's adopted daughters — serious Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove), mischievous Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier) and unicorn-loving Agnes (voiced by Nev Scharrel) — worry that the family will go broke. But before that thread goes anywhere, Gru gets news that he has a twin brother, Dru (also voiced by Carell). Dru has everything Gru doesn't: confidence, wealth and luxurious hair. He wants to partner with Gru to carry on the family business: villainy.
Dru flies Gru and the family to his estate in Freedonia. (That rumbling sound you hear is Marx brothers rolling over in their graves every time this movie uses the name of the country from "Duck Soup.") More subplots are set up — Lucy trying to bond with her new stepchildren, Agnes embarking on a hunt for a real unicorn — and just as quickly spent of what small comic value they had, while Gru and Dru team up to try to retrieve the diamond from Bratt's impenetrable lair.
Meanwhile, Gru's little yellow Minions — having tasted freedom (and their own movie) — go on strike because Gru doesn't want to go back to crime. Their subplot exists mostly to serve up half-baked references to "American Idol," Gilbert & Sullivan, "West Side Story" and "The Great Escape."
Granted, there's nothing new in faulting a big-budget movie for a lack of originality. But the first "Despicable Me" introduced a fresh, original concept — the evil genius who becomes a loving dad — and watching a once-clever franchise reduced to a cliché is just sad.
Bratt's main villainous plot involves obliterating Hollywood, his revenge for his '80s TV show being cancelled. (Even this plot, we learn, is recycled from Bratt's old show.) He needn't bother, because the lack of new ideas in "Despicable Me 3" proves that there's not much left in Hollywood worth destroying.
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'Despicable Me 3'
Ex-villain Gru discovers he has a long-lost twin as the animated franchise runs out of gas.
Where • Theaters everywhere.
When • Opens Friday, June 30.
Rating • PG for action and rude humor.
Running time • 90 minutes.