Despicable Me 4 (2024)

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It seems almost impossible that the Despicable Me franchise could have transcended the highly-specific premise of its first film — in which a super villain turns good after adopting three orphan girls — to become one of the most successful and longest-running series in animation history. Now six films in (including a pair of prequels), the Gruniverse also happens to be one of the most consistent franchises we have, animated or otherwise. And while there have been highs and relative lows since it first debuted in 2010, Despicable Me hasn’t had a complete misfire… until now.

We might get distracted by the dazzling color contrast, impressive production design, and whatever it is the minions happen to be doing at any given moment, but Despicable Me 4 is not a good movie.

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Picking up with Gru and his family sometime after the events in the third movie, this fourth installment of the quadrilogy spends most of its time in the second act with nothing to do except wait for other ancillary characters to take action. Gru (Steve Carell), his wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig), and their four children are placed into witness protection by the Anti-Villain League (AVL) after an old high school rival, Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell), breaks out of prison dead-set on kidnapping Gru’s infant son. Combining elements from Jeff Goldblum’s character in The Fly and Danny Devito’s The Penguin in Batman Returns, Maxime has found a way to turn himself into a cockroach-human hybrid creature and is intent on taking over the world. The beef with Gru is relatively inconsequential other than to set our protagonist into action…sort of.

With a main character whose adventures rely on his current status as an agent attempting to rid the world of supervillains, screenwriters Mike White and Ken Daurio made the curious choice of removing any agency for Gru by literally forcing him to do nothing. Due to the nature of the plot, he and his family simply cannot leave the confines of their new neighborhood and must keep a low profile. This means trying and failing at their new designated jobs. Lucy spends her first day as a hairdresser burning some rich lady’s hair off. Meanwhile Gru is apparently a satellite dish salesman — but it could have been a trapeze artist for all I know because it basically never works its way into the plot even remotely.

Despicable Me 4 feels like it’s working with half of a script; half of an idea even. After a tortuous amount of time watching our characters do absolutely nothing important, we finally get some action as Gru’s real identity is somewhat compromised. His new snooty neighbors have a daughter who’s an aspiring villain. Recognizing Gru, she enlists him to steal the mascot of his alma mater…because apparently his safe house is in relative proximity to his old high school where this entire story started. This sets off a chain of events that alerts Maxime to Gru’s whereabouts, and once again I’m struggling to figure out why this was the premise chosen for this movie.

There was a point during Gru’s heist with the mascot where I thought the film was going to turn into Gru getting a taste of villainy again and needing to resort to his past behavior in order to save his family. But alas, it didn’t propel our protagonist — only the contrived plot in which he barely inhabits.

Reminiscent of the embarrassing products of the ‘70s and ‘80s that caused sequels to become such a stigma in the first place (stuff like Fletch Lives and More American Graffiti — real insults), Despicable Me 4 might be a bit darker in tone than its predecessors but that’s about all it has going for it. Illumination’s first prequel, Minions: The Rise of Gru, tapped into the tone and feel of Despicable Me almost better than the first movie did. It came from a place of love and admiration for this franchise and its star character. Conversely, Despicable Me 4 just misses the mark almost every step of the way. This one’s a head-scratcher, to say the least.