Despicable Me 4 Review

The Despicable Me series and the Minions are extremely popular and a financial juggernaut that made Illumination into one of the biggest animation studios in Hollywood. The series returns for a sixth film.

Gru (Steve Carrell) and his family are forced to go into witness protection after his old school rival, Maxine Le Mal (Will Ferrell) escapes from prison and plans to kidnap Gru’s son. Gru and his family struggle to adapt to their surroundings, and it is made even worse when his neighbour and apprising villain, Poppy Prescott (Joey King), blackmails Gru into his part in a heist.

It has been fashionable to hate the Despicable Me franchises and the Minions and the films after Despicable Me 2 have been met with mixed critical reactions. However, the films have an appeal since two of the films have made over a billion dollars and two more came close to breaking the billion-dollar barrier. Illumination has been masters at making populist, profitable entertainment.

Illumination makes films that appeal to younger audiences. There have been slapstick-heavy affairs and the Minions are great vehicles for this. They hurt each other but they are invulnerable so never in any real danger. They have a universal appeal to the Minions since they have a simple yet recognisable design and speak gibberish so there isn’t much of a language barrier. In this film they were agents of chaos with each other and the wider population. My five-year-old nephew laughed quite a few times due to the Minions’ antics. Whilst there’s a minority who voice their disdain for the Minions, they have proven themselves to be excellent comedy figures and they work as supporting characters.

The Despicable Me films’ humour has always had a broad approach. Despicable Me 4 had three characters with funny voices, a goat performing the wrong trick (my brother liked that joke), and some movie references for older audience members. I admit I liked The Terminator reference. The Despicable Me films know how to do this broad style of humour well.

One of the strengths of the first film was Gru learning and realising he cared for his adopted daughters. It gave that film heart and an emotional core. Despicable Me 4 tried to replicate this with Gru trying to bond with his baby son. The attempt was there but Despicable Me 4 didn’t hit as hard as some other recent family films (IF and Inside Out 2 being the best examples).

Where Despicable Me 4 falters was the story. It was essentially the same as Despicable Me 3 since the villains in both films had a personal beef with Gru and wanted revenge against the ex-villain. Also, like Despicable Me 3, Gru and his family go to a new location, and they do their own separate things. Gru tries to bond with his son and is forced to work with Poppy, Lucy (Kristen Wiig) becomes a hairdresser and ends up annoying one of her customers, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove) who struggles to adapt to a new school, and Agnes (Madison Polan) didn’t want to lie even though she was given a new identity. The majority of the Minions had their own subplot where they work for the AVL and five of them get superpowers. The Minions were detracted from the rest of the film.

Some of these subplots don’t lead anywhere. It felt like the filmmakers needed to add them to ensure the film ran for 90 minutes. Some of these subplots were in the film for a couple of scenes. At least the subplots had some connection to each other, they weren’t different stories stitched together like what happened with The Secret Life of Pets sequel.

Gru was a passive character in this film. His family was put into witness protection and they needed to adapt to suburban life. Gru was forced into action because of Poppy’s blackmail and Maxine searches for him. Gru had no agency of his own and events had to happen to him. Even in Despicable Me 3 Gru chose to take part in a heist so he could get his job back.

Fans of the Despicable Me franchise should be pleased with Despicable Me 4. It kept the signature brand of humour and had enough energy to overcome the story’s deficiencies. Younger audiences will find it funny.