TO ME, IT REPRESENTED THE ULTIMATE prize. I had two amusement parks, close enough to me, that were easy to get to with a single city transit bus when I was growing up. I was familiar with every ride at both parks and knew what foods to eat at each one. At one park, I would always get a sky-blue snow cone which was shaved ice with a sweet blue colored syrup poured over it. My favorite food to order at the other park was a mini hamburger; the quantities varied depending on how long I would stay at the park. Despite having two easily accessible amusement parks near me while growing up, all anyone talked about was the huge, national amusement parks out of state. Friends would come back from summer vacation and talk about all the different rides and attractions. They had breakfast with one cartoon character and lunch with a different one. There was never a negative comment; it all sounded like a dream coming true. Staying purposely at a motel/hotel near or at the park so you could go back the next day and the next if you chose, was simply unimaginable to my young mind. I was not envious, but I absolutely wanted to experience this for myself someday. It took several years before I could venture out and participate in everything I heard about these magical parks.      MY FIRST TIME VISITING A NATIONAL amusement park, I accompanied family members. It was an amazing encounter to see for myself things I had only seen on television. We all had a wonderful time. A few years later I went by myself because one of the parks was holding a special event. I loved every minute of it and was on the go from dawn to bedtime. I met people from my hometown and hung out with them. When I came back and was telling my friends about the wonderful time I had, it was decided we would all have to go next year, which we did. By this time, it was my third time and despite enjoying the time with my friends, the rides and attractions were familiar enough to me that they lost that “wow” factor of surprise. I knew where the scary parts were, so I no longer jumped in my seat. The various musical backgrounds were turning into white noise; I no longer felt that excitement when I sat down and buckled myself into my seat. I wound up feeling the same when I watched this latest installment of the animated film franchise.      WHEN AN OLD RIVAL VOWS TO get revenge, Gru, voiced by Steve Carrell (The Big Short, Welcome to Marwen), must take his family and go into hiding; all with new identities. How long will it be before they will be discovered and will Gru be able to defend his family against this new villain? With Kristen Wiig (Where’d You Go, Bernadette; Wonder Woman 1984) voicing Lucy, Joey King (A Family Affair, Bullet Train) voicing Poppy Prescott, Will Ferrell (Quiz Lady, Blades of Glory) voicing Maxime and Sofia Vergara (Chef, Modern Family-TV) voicing Valentina; this adventure comedy had all the same elements as the previous films except a good script. At least the actors did a decent job voicing their characters. The Minions as usual were fun to watch and the animation was well done. However, the script did not provide anything new except some confusion. For young viewers, they will get a kick out of seeing this movie. But, for their parents and older viewers, there was truly little above the standard fare. I was bored in parts and honestly did not find much to make me laugh. It may be time to give Gru and the Minions a rest; they deserve it. There were Minions acting out during the ending credits.                                  

2 stars