Despicable Me 4 - Review: More Antics, More Minions, More Money

 

As the world turns, so do we get another chapter of Universal and Illumination’s money printing factory known as the “Despicable Me” franchise. It’s hard to even begin to critique these films as their success is virtually guaranteed every time, but there’s still enough different between each entry to warrant discussion. Hence, the review you see here for the latest film, the incredibly creatively titled “Despicable Me 4.” 

This latest entry finds Gru, voiced again by Steve Carell (“The Office,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”), working for the Anti Villian League and enjoying married bliss with his wife and fellow agent Lucy, voiced by Kristen Wiig (“Bridesmaids,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”), and three adopted kids Margo, voiced by Miranda Cosgrove (“School of Rock,” “iCarly”), Edith, voiced by Dana Gaier, and Agnes, voiced by Madison Polan, as well as newborn son Gru Jr. However, the family are forced to assume new identities after Gru’s archrival and former classmate Maxime La Mal, voiced by Will Ferrel (“Anchorman,” “Step Brothers”), escapes from prison and decrees that he will hunt Gru down. This leads them to hide out in the suburbs of Mayflower, where Gru is blackmailed by next door neighbor and teenage wannabe villain Poppy Prescott, voiced by Joey King (“The Kissing Booth,” “The Act”), into teaching her how to be a villain. Meanwhile, the Minions, all voiced again by Pierre Coffin (“Minions,” “Despicable Me”), have taken up a new gig with the AVL as the superpowered Mega-Minions.

As is the case with virtually every other “Despicable Me” film, the plot isn’t necessarily cohesive, instead writers Mike White (“The White Lotus,” “School of Rock”) and Ken Daurio (“Horton Hears a Who,” “Schmigadoon!”) just craft something resembling a joke and/or Minion antic delivery machine. No one grows or changes or has an arc, rather just going through various set pieces and action sequences to get to the gags. Luckily, the gags and jokes have a pretty good batting average. While Lucy gets saddled with some random bits involving hair styling and a scorned customer that are quickly forgotten, Gru gets a fantastic arc not only poking fun at suburban dad antics, but also pairs him up with the best character in the series besides himself or the Minions: Poppy Prescott.

King’s vocal performance is top notch and the character herself proves to be a fantastic foil to Gru’s reformed/older and wiser villain persona. Every scene with the two of them together begs the question of why they weren’t just the entire film. Carell also nails his performance, putting years of experience with the character to good use. Ferrell is also excellent, with he and Carell volleying off each other just like their early live-action comedy days. The rest of the cast is serviceable to wasted. Wiig, Cosgrove, Gaier, and Polan are all fine, meanwhile the likes of Stephen Colbert (“Monsters vs. Aliens,” “Mr. Peabody and Sherman”) as Gru’s next door neighbor and Poppy’s father Perry, Sophia Vergara (“Machete Kills,” “Modern Family”) as Maxime’s girlfriend Valentina, and Chloe Fineman (“Babylon,” “Saturday Night Live”) as Poppy’s mother Patsy all feel wasted, failing to make an impact beyond just “another celebrity voice.”

Pharell Williams (“Hidden Figures,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”) turns in yet another excellent opening musical number and the score from series veteran Heitor Pereira (“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” “Curious George”) uses the right themes at the right moments for maximum action and comedic impact. It’s hard to call any of it unique, but it is an example of a finely tuned musical style that serves its purpose and not much more.

There is something weirdly enjoyable about the low stakes of it all. Gru and Maxime’s rivalry isn’t about taking over the world, but rather petty jealousy. There’s no massive destruction of a city or object of world ending power. It’s shockingly low stakes and it helps to serve as the antithesis of most Hollywood franchise moviemaking nowadays. It’s almost as if Gru and his Minions have become so over saturated in the market that they’ve spun back around to being ironically funny and cool, much like Shrek a decade or so ago.

“Despicable Me 4” is yet another entry in the critic proof series, but it's one of the better ones. Carell and Ferrell are excellent together, as is King, with all three maintaining a heightened level of energy that lifts the entire film up whenever they’re on screen. It’s more of the same that you’ve seen before, but with a higher joke-to-minute ratio and lacking the annoying elements from previous entries. It’s about as good as this series can get, which only somewhat sounds like damning with faint praise. 3.5/5