DESPICABLE ME 4 – Review

As we approach the big extended (four days) holiday weekend the big Summer movie season dashes past its halfway point with a new entry in a fourteen-year-old film franchise. No big surprise, but this one is hoping to “ride the wave” generated by a sequel that caused an unexpected near-seismic tsunami at the box office, only a few weeks ago. Oh, did I mention that both flicks are animated? Yes, INSIDE OUT 2 exceeded all the financial forecasters to be the first billion-dollar movie of 2024. So, will “lightning strike” again, as this is the first installment of the series in seven years, not counting a couple of prequel spin-offs. Perhaps Gru and his gang, including lotsa’ manic Minions, can lure some families at the multiplex away from another visit in Riley’s noggin with DESPICABLE ME 4.

The story does start with the “DM’ himself, Gru (voice of Steve Carell) as he attends, with a trio of Minions, a class reunion at his old “alma mater”, Lycee Pas Bon. But he’s not there to “catch up’, rather he’s on a mission for the Anti-Villain League (ATL) to capture an old classmate and rival, Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell). When he receives a special award, Maxime reveals that he has harnessed the power of cockroaches, even fusing parts of them into his body, to make himself an unstoppable mastermind. This nearly derails Gru’s plans to arrest him until his backup ATL team arrives. Soon Gru is back home with his loving family: wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig), daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), Agnes (Madison Skyy Polan), and baby son Gru Junior. But just as things are getting back to normal they get a surprise visit from the ATL director Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) who tells them that Maxime, with the help of his GF Valentina (Sofia Vergara) has busted out and is on his way for revenge. The family Gru is quickly whisked away to a new locale with new identities as part of a protection “program”. While all but three of the Minions are taken to the secret ATL lab, the family is sent to cozy suburban Mayflower. Gru tries to become friends with snooty neighbor Perry Prescott (Steven Colbert), which leads to his association with his pre-teen daughter Poppy (Joey King). She recognizes him as a former super-villain and threatens blackmail unless he aids her in a high-risk “heist”. Meanwhile, at the lab, five of the Minions are chosen for a special experiment to give them super powers (flying, strength, laser-ray eye, etc.) creating the Mega-Minions. All this as Maxime and Valentina track down their prey. Can Gru and his family triumph over their bug abilities and weapons or will Gru Jr. become Maxime’s new son?

The veteran voice cast reunites to bring plenty of star power to their now-familiar roles. Carell brings a lot of energy and his expert comic timing to Gru’s endearing accent (perhaps near Boris Badenov’s hometown). Wiig is the most prominent of the SNL vets as the perky affable Lucy with a “sing-song” TV sitcom housewife delivery. The other big “get” has a connection to her and to Carell with the introduction of the new “big baddie” Maxime voiced by SNL icon and that ANCHORMAN himself, Ferrell, who seems to be enjoying his over-the-top French accent. Vergara is a good bored, petulant vamp as Valentina. And Coogan has the right tone of cultured stuffiness as Silas. Oh, there are two more TV vets involved. Lariane Newman, an OG SNL founder, is the angry matron Melora while current SNL “mimic marvel” Chloe Fineman is the bubbly Southern belle next door, Patsy. Colbert is pure waspy privilege as her hubby Perry. King affects a nice snarky “mean girls” riff as their daughter Poppy. And kudos to the mix of new and veteran voices as the daughters.

The director’s chair is shared by Chris Renaud (the man behind so many Illumination flicks) and Patrick Delage (in his feature debut). Perhaps this team-up happened to somehow shoehorn the three (maybe more) plot elements into a coherent and cohesive film. And they don’t really get there as the plot will suddenly stop any momentum to “switch over” to “story B” (hey, we need some Minion slapstick) dividing our focus. Maybe another “pass” was needed on the script from Mike White ( a lauded live-action scribe) and one of the original DM writers, Ken Daurio. Another stumble is the lack of a really interesting villain in Maxime, whose “reason for revenge’ via a cutesy flashback, isn’t that engaging. Plus the script “falls back” on too many pop culture riffs and “shout outs” topped by a “burn” on the live-action superhero “tentpoles”. Yes, over-powered heroes causing havoc trying to help is as old as the concept (“Snafuperman” and “Stuporduck” shorts from the 40s and 50s). The scenic backdrops are very colorful and dynamic, but the character design is often derivative with almond-shaped heads, big “floopy” hair, and spindly legs that shouldn’t support the bulky torsos (and what’s with Maxime’s puffy “hotel carpet” coat). By the time the film lumbers along to its “city demolition” climax, we’re exhausted despite its 95-minute runtime. Hardcore fans of the series will be happy to have the old gang back complete with lots of Minions schtick as they spew gibberish while bouncing about, but after seeing the superb sequel from Pixar last month maybe the Gru family and friends (and fiends) should retire into cinema “witless protection” after squandering the comic talent ‘at the mike” in DESPICABLE ME 4.

2 Out of 4

DESPICABLE ME 4 is now playing in theatres everywhere