On June 16th, my daughter and I attended a special Despicable Me 3 media event and screening at iPic Los Angeles, sponsored by Bounty, Yummy Spoonfuls, and Kellogs Frosted Flakes, with a special appearance and cupcake crafts by Food Network star Duff Goldman. It was our first time at iPic. I love the setup and convenience of the restaurant near the theater. It was spacious, and all the bloggers had enough room to create their own fondant Minion cupcake topper craft. A Minion character made an appearance, and we took a fun photo in the Bounty booth.
Camila Alves, co-owner and chief brand director of Yummy Spoonfuls, showcased their organic pouch contents as delicious smoothies, for kids and adults alike to enjoy.
I took a picture with Duff Goldman, who designed the Bounty-themed Minions cake for the event. He even did a short decorating demo and was very friendly and fun.
I’m glad plenty of Bounty napkins and paper towel were on hand, because my daughter made some messes. They came out with a special Despicable Me 3 Edition paper towels and napkins that have a cute Minions print.
Event photos below by Gabriel Gastelum
The Screening
First off, iPic is an awesome theater. They definitely take movie-watching up to VIP level with comfy reclining seats, complete with a pillow, fuzzy blanket, and a buzzer for wait staff service. The restroom isn’t too far from the theater exit and is pristine. The movie was hilarious. I laughed almost the entire time.
It’s about family
Despicable Me 3 is about family and relationships. It starts off with an introduction of the villain, Balthazar Bratt (voiced by Trey Parker) which escalates to a high-energy scene where Gru and Lucy (voiced by Steve Carrell and Kristin Wiig, respectively) try but fail to capture him, ultimately leading to their termination as agents. Not long after, Gru discovers he has a long-lost twin brother, Dru, who is the opposite of almost everything he is (including his hair) but otherwise physically resembles him to a tee. His love/hate relationship with Dru is something most siblings can relate to. Meanwhile, Lucy strives to bond with the girls – Margo, Meredith, and Agnes, who are all different ages. Lucy‘s challenges are examples of how moms have to adjust their relationship with their child(ren) at different stages in their life. It was also very interesting how they showed how parents and children deal with the loss of a job, and how emotional it can be for the whole family. There were definitely elements in this movie (political and otherwise), which reflect the state of the world today.
The Minions are as adorable as ever. Every scene they’re in is hilarious, but the prison scenes are the best (and so is the music that goes with it).
As a parent, I really appreciated the minimal use of bulleted guns used in this movie, but rather the medium of high inflating bubble gum, lasers, and rocket launchers.
Humorous character references
Balthazar Bratt is a former child-actor who turned into a super-villain. He has beef with humanity, specifically Hollywood. I think he is a dead-ringer for the much hated “George ‘Pornstache’ Mendez,” played by Pablo Schreiber in the first few seasons of Orange Is The New Black.
There are other references in the movie, some to political figures. I’m not going to spoil it, but these cameos will make some adults snicker.
My 4-year old’s feedback
After the movie, I asked my daughter if she liked it. She said, “yes, but not the parts where the people were being mean.” Score for empathy! She laughed through most of it, too (although I think I laughed harder), and loved The Minions. She even tries to “speak Minion” to me sometimes, which I think she thinks is her secret language. Oh, and she loved the Dance-offs in it. 🙂
The Soundtrack + Interview with Pharrell
The soundtrack for Despicable Me 3 is now available for purchase
I loved the soundtrack for Despicable Me 3. The intro alone, had big hits from the 80s, and music for rest of the movie was perfectly aligned and had us dancing in our seats.
Pharrell Williams helped compose the soundtrack to Despicable Me 3 and produced and sang eight original songs for it. He recently released the video for “Yellow Light”:
A few bloggers and I met with him at a press junket last Saturday and had the opportunity to interview him. It was quite an honor for me to meet Pharrell, as the music he produced in the 90’s and 00’s was the soundtrack for my high school and clubbing days.
Pharrell on the meaning of Yellow Light:
“It does have a deeper meaning, but I want other people to have that same experience of discovery that you did. So, I won’t go into it, but your notion is correct. And all of you haven’t told me what you think it means. That’s what it means. You would only know if you had asked the question.”
“That’s kind of like–that was one of the things that I really like about working on this, is because I–it allows me to hide things in there and build songs that are not just songs, but they’re kind of like these, like, curious treasure chests of–like, there’s a treasure in it if you go looking. If not, it’s just a song. But you found it.”
Pharrell on what attracted him to the Despicable Me franchise:
“Just the opportunity to work on something new and different, and just to be a part of something much bigger than I could ever be. That’s amazing, you know, just working with this team of people, a comprehensive team of people, hundreds of people who are all working on, you know, this film that’s a hour and a half long or whatever it is.”
“It doesn’t have to work out. But when it does, it’s like, man, this is great. And I’m just happy to be a punctuation in that sentence.”
Pharrell Williams had a blast working with Trey Parker:
“He is–he’s such a genius. So honored to work with him, and I–anything he’d ever want me to do, if he ever wanted me to do something, I would do it in a heartbeat. He’s so good. He’s the real thing.”
Pharrell Williams on what was the most fun thing about working on Despicable Me 3:
“Playing music that was a little bit radical in comparison to what we’ve done before, just like Despicable Me 2 was different than Despicable Me 1. And allowing–you know, being allowed to continue to do different things as long as it fit the parameter was–that’s been so much fun. “
Pharrell Williams’ favorite thing about the creative process:
“Songs are essentially like illustrated thoughts. And when you’re communicating with someone, you know when the conversation’s over. You know when you felt like you’ve made your point. Songs are no different.”
Despicable Me 3
Say “Aloha” to the Minions. Despicable Me 3 hits theaters June 30th. Buy tickets at: unvrs.al/DM3-Tix
DESPICABLE ME 3 – In Theaters June 30
Illumination, who brought moviegoers Despicable Me and the biggest animated hits of 2013 and 2015, Despicable Me 2 and Minions, continues the story of Gru, Lucy, their adorable daughters—Margo, Edith and Agnes—and the Minions in Despicable Me 3.
After he is fired from the Anti-Villain League for failing to take down the latest bad guy to threaten humanity, Gru finds himself in the midst of a major identity crisis. But when a mysterious stranger shows up to inform Gru that he has a long-lost twin brother—a brother who desperately wishes to follow in his twin’s despicable footsteps—one former super-villain will rediscover just how good it feels to be bad.
Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GruTube | #DespicableMe3
Disclaimer: I was not monetarily compensated for this post. I was invited to this special event as a member of the media. All opinions are honest and 100% my own. Images for this post used with permission and provided by Universal Pictures.
