The Despicable Me 4 franchise has reached a milestone that few animated franchises have achieved: it has released a fourth installment. Though releasing four films and a couple of spinoffs—not to mention an attraction in Universal Studios—is a sign of Universal’s confidence in Illumination, they also know when they have a cash-grab movie. So be prepared to see more of Gru (Steve Carrell) and the Minions, those yellow-pill bodied muttering incoherent jibberish who serve their loyal anti-villain. While the franchise itself has been filled with goofs, gags, and silly villainous scheming, “Despicable Me 4” feels more like undeveloped plots thrown together and stitched with jokes rejected by its predecessors.
The film’s opening finds Gru drifting on tight and windy roads upwards towards his alma mater of villainy. Gru is supposedly there with a trio of Minions to celebrate the headmistress announcing the Alumni of the year with his fellow graduates. But he’s actually helping the AVL arrest Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Sofía Vergara). Gru and Maxime have been at each other’s throats since they enrolled at the school, with the latter still holding a grudge over the former for taking a song that he wanted to sing at a talent show. Later on, they would riff various schemes they’ve hatched as villains to see which one is the better of the two. Of course, nothing can compare to Gru’s attempt to steal the moon against Maxime’s successes – like turning himself into a cockroach.
Though the apprehension goes as expected – at least when it comes to these films, which means a lot of physical comedy and low-hanging fruit humor – Maxime promises his revenge against the reformed villain. Gru returns to his happy home with wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig), and adopted daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (newcomer Madison Polan) waiting for him. There’s also a new addition to the family: Gru Jr. Though, the baby may not be as happy to see his father as the adoptive daughters are. Gru Jr. would cry everytime he’s held by his father or try to inflict all sorts of pain so that he could relinquish him to his mother. It’s the typical: I don’t like daddy until the film’s climax dynamic.
Though that bliss is short-lived when Maxime and Valentina escape from prison and promises to follow through on their threat of getting revenge on Gru and his family. The AVL’s response is to relocate the family to a new suburb and give them new identities until they can resolve the Maxime matter. The group will also take custody of the Minions and house them in their secret location, where unexpected and hilarious antics will occur. Hey, these are minions, if they aren’t causing any mischief, then it isn’t a “Despicable Me” movie.
Gru, Lucy, and Margo have trouble adjusting to their new suburban lives. Gru, now a solar panel salesman, has trouble connecting with his neighors Perry Prescott (Stephen Colbert) and Patsy Prescott (Chloe Fineman), and their daughter Poppy Prescott (Joey King). Lucy has assumed the identity of a hair stylist who doesn’t know how to color hair properly, which leads to hilariously disasterous results. Finally, there’s Margo, who seems to be on the receiving end of being the new kid in school jokes – expect glitter bombs. Anges has some trouble adjusting as well since she believes going by a different name is the same as lying. The only person who doesn’t have an issue with this change is Edith, who shows no fear in confronting her karate teacher.
As soon as Gru and his family relocate, the film gets overwhelmed with the number of stories it has to juggle. In addition to Maxine seeking his revenge, aspiring villain Poppy discovers Gru’s true identity and blackmails him into helping her pull her first heist. Then there are the Minions, five of whom are experimented on and turned into superpowered Mega Minions. They merely exist as deux ex machinas to get Gru out of a jam or be a source of laughter for the kids who will eat up the yellow-pill bodied antics. A lot of the laughs do come from when the Mega Minions use their newfound powers – there’s a stretchy guy, a super strong minion, a minion that fly, a cyclops minion that can shoot energy beams out of its eyes, and a large rock like minion that is impervious to any damage – to be superheroes, although none actually save people. Instead, they put the people
Though these subplots are loosely connected, one could subtract the Mega Minions side story and the movie would be the better for it. But it doesn’t. Whenever the film has to turn its attention to the Minions, it disrupts the already shoddy pacing. As such, the subplots feel like separate “Despicable Me” shorts stitched together like Frankenstein’s monster. And because there are multiple subplots going on at once, there is hardly any time to care about the characters and what’s at stake for them. Maxine’s threat to kidnap Gru Jr. feels more like an afterthought because it has to dedicate its already limited 95 minute runtime to the other subplots or the Minions’ antics.
The main issue is that “Despicable Me 4” doesn’t add anything new to the franchise that would further develop any of the characters in the franchise. All they are doing is more of the same thing and less of what would help advance the franchise meaningfully. Gru is still very much the doting father that cares for his adoptive daughters and tries to make a connection with his son. He hasn’t faced any sort of conflict that would have us better understand his struggles. He is just stagnating. That that goes for a lot of the comedy as well. At this point, all it is doing is quadrupling on the goofs and gags – and even then, it’s just more of the same thing. We know what’s going to happen and should not expect anything different.
“Despicable Me 4” is a sign that the franchise needs to break the cycle and do something new to stay fresh. With each new entry, these characters become even more forgettable. Even with its relatively short runtime, sitting through from beginning to end is exhausting. Sure, the minions provides a few chuckles or less if one has grown tired of a franchise that refuses to evolve, but they will be a laugh riot for the kids or anyone else who doesn’t know about the franchise.
6/10
Despicable Me 4 in theaters July 3.
