Now You See Me: Now You Don't

So I finally watched Now You See Me 3, and let's just say... the plot pulled a disappearing act on creativity. The story feels recycled just like a magic trick you've seen one too many times at a kid's birthday party. Honestly, it made Now You See Me 2 look like a masterpiece in comparison.

I did enjoy the cast reunion - Isla Fisher back in action was a pleasant surprise but beyond that, everything was just... plain. If you're going to make fans wait nearly a decade, at least give us something worth the wait, not a rerun in a new hat.

The only illusion here is thinking this sequel was worth the wait.

"Now You See Me 3" is by far the worst entry in the franchise.

While the second movie was already inferior to the first, at least it expanded the world and took the story in a new direction. With nine years to develop a sequel, you'd expect something fresh, ambitious, and worthy of the franchise. Instead, the filmmakers went for the laziest option possible: a blatant rehash of the first two films-especially the second-recycling the same story beats, structure, and even the same type of plot twist, just with different characters.

The movie is full of overused tropes executed in the most uninteresting way. The dialogue is poor, character interactions even poorer, and the new characters add nothing except clutter, stealing screen time from the main cast-who end up feeling like guests in their own franchise. Even the visuals feel tired and uninspired, which is especially disappointing given the potential of such a unique premise and the always-wonderful cast. With these characters and this setup, the film could have delivered inventive storytelling and striking set pieces-but it doesn't.

A fourth movie is teased, and if it ever happens, I sincerely hope they hire a writer and director interested in making the sequel this franchise actually deserves.

This film delivers plenty of fun, energetic moments and strong chemistry among the cast, and my 11-year-old-along with many kids age 8-18 in the theater-absolutely loved the absurd, fast-moving magic and humor. Kids don't worry about whether the tricks make sense, and for them it's a blast.

But the writers, director and producers GROSSLY overproduce this flashy sequel to the max. Isla fisher wears a fancy dress in the woods or in action sequences that make your eyes roll. ANY REALISM from filmmakers would help.

For adult, the movie often feels closer to reality-show spectacle-think Masked Singer meets America's Got Talent-than a grounded cinematic story. Your magicians fight WWII Evil. The sets and character design are impressive, but the nonstop implausible stunts and plot holes make it hard to stay invested in the world they're trying to build.

Still, if you overlook the "jump-the-shark" magic moments and just enjoy the popcorn-movie chaos, it's entertaining enough. My daughter gave it an A. I landed on a B mostly thanks to Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg, who bring enough charm and humor to offset the rapid-fire absurdity. (We completed premier with Cinemascore voting.)

Like many sequels since the '80s, it tries to do too much-too many new characters, too much flash, too much caffeine-and in the process loses warmth, character focus, and believability. But it is entertainment, and we're glad we saw it in a theater, where the spectacle feels bigger and more fun than it would on a streaming screen.

How did a big budget, solid actor, much anticipated film yield such poor writing, directing and editing? Magic, apparently.

The trick here is to fool audiences into paying for this nonsense. Want to spend 2 hours of your life watching someone else ooh and aah in in a magic show or play in an escape room filmed on screen?. Only thing worse than the script may be Rosamund Pike's accent. Oy.

This has been years in the making and it's finally come out! Was it worth it? I suppose it was fun with the gang back together but it's more of the same you've seen before but less complex which is both a good and bad thing as the tricks are more realistic but it loses that intrigue and mysticism. Aside from that it springs a new generation of magicians along with the classic gang and watching them work side by side up until the big reveal is engaging. They clearly have fun with getting them all back together and the interactions after years make this worth a watch for sure. It leaves room for more at the end but they could stop right there if they wanted to.

The cast is the best thing with them all reunited. I love Jesse Eisenberg so I enjoy seeing him again. Newcomers like Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa and Ariana Greenblatt are all great charismatic new characters too. Rosamund Pike as the villain is cool just cause it's her anyway.

They have the song abracadabra in this by Lady Gaga so that's another cool thing!

Great to see them back on screen again regardless of it being more of the same stuff with less complexity.