Despicable Me 4 (2024)

Despicable Me 4 (2024)

5/10

 

Starring the voices of

Steve Carell

Kristen Wiig

Pierre Coffin

Joey King

Miranda Cosgrove

Sofía Vergara

Steve Coogan

 

Directed by Chris Renaud

 

It felt so much like I was watching a rip-off of Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004). The story was not as good as the first two Despicable Me animations from 2010 and 2013. It felt so much like the third, a movie that needed not to be made, but was done anyway.

This is the fourth animated movie of the Despicable Me story following Gru, and it is a sequel to the third Despicable Me 3 (2017). It is although the sixth movie in the Despicable Me franchise, following the prequel Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022).

The problem with this animation was how much time was wasted in the second act (this is when Gru needed to be taken into protective custody and when his new hiding place was discovered). The first act too was not given the needed root. The antagonist Maxime never got the time to develop. In fact, none of the new characters introduced were given any form of development. I believe with good writing you can make the best of one hour thirty minutes, but this movie rushed everything and focused more on the second act, not to mention it had too many characters.

The plot is this, Gru working undercover with the AVL (anti-villain league) went to his high school reunion to capture a villain named Maxime. Maxime has a feud with Gru, one which you will need to watch the movie to know. Maxime has developed a syndrome which he used on himself to make him strong, and he intends to take over the world. Gru, with the aid of agents of the AVL, was able to capture Maxime.

Maxime broke out of prison and swore to get revenge on Gru. The AVL, wanting to protect Gru and his family, placed them into protective custody. They were moved to a safe location, given new names and new jobs.

Maxime on the other hand has plans to find Gru and kidnap his baby, and raise the child as his own, to enact his revenge on Gru for capturing him for the AVL.

Gru and his family are finding it hard to fit into their new life and role. To make it worse for Gru, someone in this new town of his, knows who he is and is taking advantage of this knowledge to make Gru help them pull a heist.

If you want to take the children out to see an animated movie, then you can take them to see this one, but as an adult and a fan of the franchise, I think this animation was not well thought through.