Film Review - Despicable Me 4 (2024)

Despicable Me 4 is the newest entry in the Despicable Me series and this time Gru (Steve Carrell) is enjoying family life and working for the Anti-Villain League when he apprehends Maxime Le Mai (Will Ferrell) but when he escapes with the help of his partner in crime (Sofia Vergara) he vows revenge against Gru and his new baby son could be the key to helping him do that.

Despicable Me 4 does what you expect from this series and in these shaky times in which we live in that was enough for me for the most part, we get Gru doing his thing, we get Lucy and the daughters doing theirs and we definitely get the Minions (some of whom become superheroes which goes about as well as you could expect) doing their thing and it all worked and the storytelling in these films can at times feel episodic which sometimes bothers me and sometimes not feels more focused here in terms of bringing the various strands of storyline together.

As for Gru and his family they go okay but again it’s not that much new, Carrell is still fun to listen to as the character and the family moments are fun as well but what helps this part of the film is a new character named Poppy voiced by Joey King, her side quest with Gru is great fun and delivered some good laughs.

What also delivered good laughs were the Minions and yes I still enjoy their visual gag comedy moments and they still deliver great out loud laughs instead of the odd chuckle or giggle here or there that most comedies can sometimes feel like or when movies/TV shows try for comedy only to fall flat on their face but not here and the Mega Minions who were featured in one of the previews for the film is also good fun.

Where I do feel this movie falls a little short is the Le Pens, don’t get me wrong their not bad villains but their also not as fun to watch as Wild Knuckles and his group were in 2022’s The Rise of Gru or Balthazar Bratt was in 2017’s Despicable Me 3 but their also not as unmemorable as the villains in the first 2 films, instead they feel more like a repeat of Scarlet Overkill and her partner in crime from the first Minions spin off film.

And so that was Despicable Me 4 and it’s good fun if not as fun as the last 2 films in this series, 3 out of 5.