Gru and his family hit the road in the latest iteration of the Despicable Me franchise. Now a member of the Anti-Villain League (AVL), Gru and his family are living happily together. But things take a turn after he pokes that long nose of his into affairs that don’t concern him and kickstarted a revenge plot.
While attending a reunion at his old school Lycée Pas Bon (“School Not Good” in French), Gru (Steve Carrell) runs into an old bully named Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell). Very insecure and extremely French, Le Mal goes out of his way to verbally attack Gru every chance he gets. Along with his girlfriend Valentina (Sofia Vergara), the two become a thorn in the side of Gru and spend the length of the film seeking revenge for embarrassing Le Mal at the reunion.
Sometimes, it’s hard to know when to say, “When”. When you’re fortunate enough to come by a franchise that’s beaming success (Jurassic Park or Toy Story for example), it can be difficult to know “when” you should close that chapter. Jurassic Park, for example, went far too long (seven films), and sadly the final installment received horrible reviews. But you know what did work for the dino bros? A spinoff. Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous was an epic success on Netflix and the general idea of dinos in a park can live on. When Shrek started to lag, they came up with Puss in Boots. At this point, Illumination should focus more on the Minions because while this was enjoyable, a lot of aspects felt like a reach.
There are a myriad of things happening simultaneously and about half of them are unnecessary. Perhaps I’m still suffering from PTSD the way Game of Thrones just ended in my face without closing a long list of storylines and rendering copious characters meaningless. The side quest with Poppy Prescott (Joey King) was completely unnecessary. There was room for a story to develop with Gru’s son, Felonius Gru Jr., but that never happened and was a missed opportunity. I’m still shocked that nothing has been made for Agnes (Madison Skyy Polan), as her comedy is natural in its innocence and her obsession with fluff never gets old. But the real disappointment comes with the off-balanced attention toward Gru. This movie has too much of him and not enough of his wife, Lucy (Kristen Wiig) or the Minions. It was a big to-do when he discovered he had a brother in the last film, but not even he stood front-and-center in this film.
With all that being said, the kids are going to love it. Some things just aren’t meant for everyone, and Despicable Me 4 is an example. Inside Out 2 spoke to adolescents and adults on feelings like anxiety, fear, and embarrassment — the kinda thing that adults tend to think about. Despicable Me 4 isn’t tackling anything serious (which makes it more enjoyable) and is definitely aiming for your child’s attention. Now yes, a cockroach-obsessed villain and super-powered Minions were a bit out there, but don’t children feed off of the radical and spectacular?
Despicable Me 4 gets a 7.5 out of 10. The film was co-directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets) and Patrick Delage (animation director Sing 2 and The Secret Life of Pets 2) which disappoints me because they both worked on Secret Life of Pets and I loved those movies. But again, this is just one of those films where a children’s project actually focused on children and I can’t be mad at that. The musical number at the end was a nice touch and you’ll definitely feel “seen” as an adult (and the track may date you a bit). If you’re wondering if this is safe for kids, it is. There’s only one part that may conjure a raised eyebrow (Agnes commands her goat to sit but sounds like she’s saying sh**). Aside from that, it’s a fun, 4th of July break from reality.
Despicable Me 4 is now in theaters.
-Jon Jones
Photos: Getty Images