Despicable Me 4: Not As Hilarious, But Still Entertaining
As a fellow Minion would say, “Bello!” Since I was eleven years old, the Despicable Me franchise has been one of my favorite animated series. From Gru to the minions, even the kids (Margo, Edith, and Agnes), the movies have my heart. I have been excited to see all the films, including the prequels which focus on the minions. It’s been seven years since we got the last Despicable Me, but now in 2024, we got Despicable Me 4, which is playing right now in theaters. When the first trailer came out for the new film, I knew I would be watching, which I did yesterday. Going to the see film, which I did enjoy, but there were some things that I didn’t like about the film though. Also, I didn’t really laugh like I normally would when watching a Despicable Me film, but it was still funny in some ways. So without further ado, here’s my review on the newest installment.
Like I mentioned in the introduction of my review, there were some things that I didn’t like. First of all, I didn’t really care for the main villains, which are Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferell) & Valentina (Sofia Vergara). When it comes to these villains, I wasn’t interested in them like the other previous villains. Watching the other films, I though the villains were compelling, but I also found myself laughing at them. I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but when it comes to Maxime’s plot for world domination and his revenge on Gru, it wasn’t exciting to me. Another thing that I didn’t like about the film was that (spoiler alert), we didn’t get Dru and especially Julie Andrews, who voices the mother of Gru and Dru. I was looking forward to seeing both of the characters as I like them and find them funny. So I was disappointed that the characters didn’t show up, but I understand because it was due to the plot of the film. We did get to see Doctor Nefario though, who didn’t have a role in the last film, which I was happy about.
Before I talk about what I enjoyed about the film, I want to focus on the funniness of the movie. As I mentioned, I didn’t find myself laughing as much when watching the movie. Also, I didn’t hear a lot of laughs either in my theater, but there were some parts that I did find myself laughing on. For example, if you have seen trailers, clips, commercials, etc. for the film, it shows that some of the minions are turned into super minions (Minion Superheroes). The minions are already crazy, but what those minions do with their powers had me laughing. Also, there is another particular scene that involves Lucy, Edith, and Agnes in a grocery store, which I thought was funny.
Now, I want to focus on what I did enjoy about the movie. First, there were new characters introduced in the movie, especially Gru Jr! Gru and Lucy had a baby boy, which I thought was so sweet. He is a cute animated baby who likes to smile and laugh. When it comes to his relationship with Gru, he turns sour, leading to some funny and bad antics. At the end of the movie though, Gru Jr turns sweet towards Gru, which had me smiling. Also, another character that was introduced was Poppy Prescott (Joey King). I adore King, so I was excited to see her voice Poppy, whose character I like. Poppy, who is a villain at heart, made the plot fun as (spoiler alert) she extorts Gru into helping her with a heist. Poppy is ambitious and mischievous, which I like about her. Also, that treehouse that she has is awesome! Lastly, I do want to mention Agnes and her pet goat, Lucky. I love her relationship with Lucky, so it was sweet to see them reunited together at the end.
As I end my review, I will say that this Despicable Me film is not my favorite, but I enjoyed it though. Now I don’t know if there are plans for a Despicable Me 5, but there probably will be as the movie is making a lot of money at the box office. Now if there is a fifth film, I hope that we get better villains and see the return of Dru, Gru & Dru’s mom, and even Doctor Nefario. It would be nice if they brought back Poppy as well. We just have to wait and see, but I know I will be watching as I do love this franchise.
You can see Despicable Me 4 at your local theater. The other Despicable Me films are streaming on Peacock.
If you made it to the bottom, thanks so much for reading! Please subscribe and I hope you check out my other reviews as well- Brianna 😄