Anthony's Film Review - Despicable Me 4 (2024)

Despicable Me 4 is another dose of simple silly fun...

After three Despicable Me movies plus two prequel Minions movies, Despicable Me 4 continues the tradition of the preceding five movies of the Despicable Me/Minions franchise. By this point, the formula has been established: silly humor in the context of cartoonish spy capers. It's worked for many people, so if the filmmakers didn't want to go above and beyond their usual schtick, that's fine. At a minimum, the usual schtick is enough of a winner.

As you may expect, the plot in this movie is thin, maybe a bit thinner than usual. The latest villain is Maxime, voiced by Will Ferrell in an amusingly over-the-top performance. He is an evil French man who loves cockroaches. He has an army of intelligent cockroaches serving him, plus a powerful airship that looks like a giant cockroach. Though captured initially by the Anti-Villain League, he escapes and vows to get revenge on Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) who is living life as a family man with a wife, three adoptive daughters, and a new baby boy.

That's really it as far as the plot is concerned. You could actually tell that whole story in less than an hour, or maybe a half hour like an episode of a TV cartoon. But to achieve the usual running time of 90+ minutes, the script has to include more content. The result is that the movie is a mixture of scenes moving the story and scenes that are just side fillers. Really, you can look at this movie as a series of animated comedy sketches that just happen to partly tell a story.

And you know what? That was fine with me. I wasn't focused on the plot so much as what the next visual gag would be. Obviously, scenes with the Minions doing funny stuff was part of it, including one poor Minion stuck in a vending machine. Other scenes include a wacky grocery store chase, Gru's stuck-up rich neighbors with their bratty daughter, and five Minions becoming Mega Minions. (Come to think of it, this is kind of close to describing the entire movie.)

I will say that I appreciated the last part of Despicable Me 4. The climax was fun and just enough to be a climax. What's better is the final scene that, without giving anything away, creatively preaches a subtle message about bringing people together. Whether it's family, friends, or the community at large, everyone deserves to be happy together. In any event, Despicable Me 4 is another simple yet enjoyable animated film in this series.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Despicable Me 4, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my reviews of the following:

The Despicable Me/Minions Films