I, along with many “Despicable Me” fans, had been awaiting the release of “Despicable Me 4” ever since it was announced. The lovable characters and hilarious villains never failed to entertain me in the first three films. Unfortunately, I was surprised to find that the fourth installment was not worth the hype.
“Despicable Me 4” once again follows Gru – along with Lucy, Margo, Agnes and Eden – on another new mission. However, a new addition has been made to the family. Gru Jr, Gru’s new baby boy, debuts in “Despicable Me 4” as a red-headed Gru lookalike. Full of sass and a favoritism for his mother, Gru Jr’s antics make the audience giggle.
Unfortunately, the minions are not nearly as prevalent as they were in the previous three installments. Three minions stayed with the Gru family. As for the rest of the minions, most of them are taken to train at the AVL headquarters. 5 of them are turned into mega minions with superpowers.
A new villain, Gru’s high school rival Maxime Le Mal, is introduced. Gru and Maxime’s rivalry began when Gru stole Maxime’s song in the ninth grade talent show. Now a human-cockroach hybrid, Maxime is a powerful villain that must be stopped. Adored by his former principal and peers, Maxime shows up at the villain school’s high school reunion in order to receive an award. Little does he know, Gru is ready to crash the party.
The old rivalry between Gru and Maxime resurfaces worse than ever before. This time, Maxime is out for revenge on Gru’s family. The AVL relocates the Gru family to a safehouse in an upscale town. The family struggles to fit in with the neighbors, and there are many subplots involved such as Lucy’s new job, Gru’s new mission, and the new school for the girls.
All in all, I would rate this movie a two out of five. After anticipating the movie for months, I was disappointed. I could tell from the trailer that it was going to be different from the previous movies, but I still expected it to be better than it was.
While “Despicable Me 4” is still a movie full of charm and some humor, I didn’t find it nearly as entertaining as the first three movies in the series. The dry humor from the previous films was not present in the new movie.
In addition, the plot seemed shallow and it did not go in depth into any specific main plot. There were too many side stories going on. I think the movie would have been better if Poppy had been completely removed from the movie. With all of the distractions on the side, the minions themselves did not get much attention in the movie. They were briefly shown for only a couple of times throughout the movie, and appeared to save the day in the end. This was one of the biggest mistakes the directors made. The minions bring so much charm to the movie, and by neglecting them, much of the humor was lost.
The villain, Maxime, was a shallow character. Personally, my favorite “Despicable Me” villain is Vector by far, with Balthazar Bratt in a close second and El Macho rounding out the pack in third. They all had a very distinctive personality and some hilarious lines. Unfortunately, Maxime was just not a very developed character and he did not leave a lasting impact on me after the movie. He was just a spiteful guy who also wanted to be a cockroach, which honestly kind of bugged me. He was definitely an odd villain, and his quirks were not positive or entertaining. The movie could have been much better if the writers had focused more on developing the character of Maxime Le Mal. That was definitely the biggest missed opportunity in the film.
The movie was certainly popular, with edits of Gru circulating social media. I will say that the intro song was pretty catchy and there certainly were some entertaining aspects of the movie, just not enough to live up to my high expectations for the fourth movie in this fantastic film series.
To sum it up, as a die hard “Despicable Me” fan, I think that “Despicable Me 4” was quite disappointing. It is suitable for younger audiences who may not care as much about Gru’s dry humor or have not seen the original 3 movies. But, as someone who grew up loving the “Despicable Me” trilogy and enjoyed it for the hilarious characters and dry humor, it is ultimately dissatisfying.
