Despicable Me 4

MOVIE #1,928 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 08.23.24 The Minions/Despicable Me franchise (and to a lesser extent, Illumination productions on the whole) has emerged as a kind of anti-Pixar over the last 10+ years.They’re more connected to the anarchic spirit of Looney Tunes than they are the wholesome/message-heavy ‘elevated’ content of their Disney peers. Without sounding like too much of a dork/idiot, I’d say they hit their watermark with the best of the series, Despicable Me 3 in 2017, but — because every Minions movie makes a billion dollars, literally — I doubt we’ve seen the end of Gru and company. I read a review before seeing this that mentioned this felt more like a bunch of streamer series vignettes and I could not help thinking of that as I watched. And I watched this THREE times in the theaters! (Don’t ask. Summer days can be rough with young kids.) I think I briefly ascended during the third and final viewing, experiencing a ketamine-like dulling of the senses.

One of the main issues here is that Will Ferrell doing a bad French accent as the villain is a wonderful idea on paper but is pretty bland in practice. That dude has lost something off the fastball in recent years and it 100% translates to voicework as well. (It’s also tough to compare to Trey Parker’s Balthazar Bratt in 3, which is by far the best bad guy in the series). Still, the scene where they summon the Mega Minions out of retirement got me on all three viewings and there’s a handful of other comic bits that are enjoyable.

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Despicable Me 4 is a 2024 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination, and distributed by Universal. It is the sequel to Despicable Me 3 (2017), the fourth main installment, and the sixth overall installment in the Despicable Me franchise. The film was directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Patrick Delage (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Chris Meledandri and Brett Hoffman, and written by Mike White and Ken Daurio. It stars the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin, Joey King, Miranda Cosgrove, Steve Coogan, Sofía Vergara, Stephen Colbert, Renaud, Madison Polan, Dana Gaier, Chloe Fineman, and Will Ferrell. The film sees reformed supervillain and secret agent Gru (Carell) relocate his family to a safe house when his old rival Maxime Le Mal (Ferrell) seeks revenge. Subplots deal with Gru's family adjusting to their new lives, teenage neighbor Poppy Prescott (King) trying to follow in Gru's villainous footsteps, and a group of Gru's Minions (Coffin) becoming superheroes. It was released on May 19, 2024.