An endearing mix of silly and sweet

SO continues the rehabilitation of once-evil genius Gru from super bad to super dad to world-class agent in Despicable Me 3.

Despicable Me of 2010 and the 2013 Despicable Me 2 are two of the biggest animated hits with a combined box-office gross of US$1.51 billion. This third film in the Illumination Entertainment computer animation comedy series is a superhero spoof in addition to the originals' anti-James Bond parody and, as an action-packed save-the-world espionage adventure, the most formulaic cartoon-entertainment.

It is nevertheless by the same core creative team of French animator Pierre Coffin, helming his fourth series instalment, his co-director Kyle Balda from the 2015 spin-off Minions and character designer Eric Guillon.