Despicable Me 4 Review

Michelle Monaghan

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After five very successful movies, one might think there isn’t much left to explore in the Despicable Me franchise. And yet, Steve Carrell makes a hilarious return as former villain-turned-good-guy, Gru.

Gru’s wife Lucy, played by Kristen Wiig, as well as their adopted daughters, Margo, Edith and Agnes, also make their return. A new little brother, baby Gru Jr. also makes an appearance. 

In Despicable Me 4, Gru’s work as a secret agent threathens to turn the family’s life upside down, when a former classmate and villain aptly named Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) sets his sights on getting revenge on Gru for landing him in prison. 

“The busy plotlines are ultimately the film’s major downfall” 

For their safety, the family must go into witness protectio. Meanwhile, the remaining Minions work hard behind the scenes for Gru’s Anti Villain League. However, the busy plot lines are ultimately the film’s major downfall, and there were many missed opportunities to develop the storylines and characters. This meant that, overall, the film felt a little rushed.

For example, it is revealed that new character Poppy (Joey King), the daughter of the family’s next door neighbours, is an aspiring villain and admirer of Gru’s days as a bad guy. She then blackmails Gru into returning to his old ways in order to pull a heist with her, otherwise threatening to tell everybody about his dark past. 

Missed Opportunities

A key opportunity to explore why Poppy actually wanted to be a villain was missed, as well as the origins of her admiration of Gru. Even a short flashback would have given much more background to her undeveloped character. Especially when their time was made for flashbacks to Gru and Maxime’s school days. Why not spare one for Poppy, then?  

But we can always count on the Minions, who are as hilarious to watch as ever. And the introduction of the Mega Minions mixes things up in a highly amusing way. Though, viewers will miss seeing the loveable yellow characters and their physical comedy as one whole unit as the film neglects scenes showcasing them altogether. For me, the Minions are what I love the most about these movies (causing an especially obsessive phase in secondary school). So to see them on a much smaller scale (even though the Mega Minions were, of course, of a technically physically larger scale) was a little disapppointing.

Father and Son

The real highlight of the film was seeing Gru and his son Jr’s relationship develop. Initially, Jr doesn’t take to his father. Viewers will empathise with Gru, as he clearly loves his son, and just wants him to love him back. Father and son go on many entertaining adventures, building up to a critical and suprisingly emotional moment of bonding between the two at the very end of the film. 

Overall, Despicable Me 4 maintains the fun, playfulness of the other films in the franchise, even if there were some missed opportunities to develop characters and storylines.  

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Featured image courtesy of Marco on Flickr. No changes have been made to this image. Image license found here.