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Felonious Gru is a supervillain. He's the "despicable" one in the title. The one that tried to steal the Moon in the first installment after getting into petty arguments with another supervillain over who is more supervillainous. However, after his expected turn towards good and three installments, it is expected that something will get lost in the shuffle if you want to stay in the vicinity of that premise... or so I'm told, since I haven't seen any other.
Despicable Me 4 is my first return to the franchise after seeing the original years ago. Of course, it was a theater outing with one of my kids so what am I to do? This one follows Gru being relocated with his family as part of a witness protection program after former school rival and fellow supervillain Maxime Le Mal escapes while threatening to turn people into cockroaches.
Gru and his family trying to readjust to their new lives at the idyllic Mayflower community is just one of the many subplots this film tries to juggle. Most notably, there's Gru's attempts to connect with his young son who seems to hate him. Meanwhile, Gru's minions are transferred to the Anti-Villain League headquarters where five of them are turned into superheroes as part of a new project. Finally, there's also the young girl who admires Gru and is blackmailing him into helping her start her supervillain "career".
The thing is that most of these subplots feel like loose strands that don't connect with each other. The family's struggles to fit within Mayflower falls into some very predictable "fish out of water" tropes, the thing with the young neighbor that blackmails Gru feels like a somewhat unnecessary detour while Maxine Le Mal's plan feels underserved. And let's not mention the five Minion superheroes, which feels like an entirely different film setting things up for an actual different film.
There are still moments of charm and moments of laughter in the film. Considering my expectations, I think I laughed or chuckled more than I expected, so the film is not a waste of time. But even with that, it can't help but feel a bit muddled, a bit messy, and perhaps a bit less Gru-ish.
Grade:
DESPICABLE ME 4
(2024, Renaud)
(2024, Renaud)
"Gru, you’re going to have to try to be less Gru-ish."
Felonious Gru is a supervillain. He's the "despicable" one in the title. The one that tried to steal the Moon in the first installment after getting into petty arguments with another supervillain over who is more supervillainous. However, after his expected turn towards good and three installments, it is expected that something will get lost in the shuffle if you want to stay in the vicinity of that premise... or so I'm told, since I haven't seen any other.
Despicable Me 4 is my first return to the franchise after seeing the original years ago. Of course, it was a theater outing with one of my kids so what am I to do? This one follows Gru being relocated with his family as part of a witness protection program after former school rival and fellow supervillain Maxime Le Mal escapes while threatening to turn people into cockroaches.
Gru and his family trying to readjust to their new lives at the idyllic Mayflower community is just one of the many subplots this film tries to juggle. Most notably, there's Gru's attempts to connect with his young son who seems to hate him. Meanwhile, Gru's minions are transferred to the Anti-Villain League headquarters where five of them are turned into superheroes as part of a new project. Finally, there's also the young girl who admires Gru and is blackmailing him into helping her start her supervillain "career".
The thing is that most of these subplots feel like loose strands that don't connect with each other. The family's struggles to fit within Mayflower falls into some very predictable "fish out of water" tropes, the thing with the young neighbor that blackmails Gru feels like a somewhat unnecessary detour while Maxine Le Mal's plan feels underserved. And let's not mention the five Minion superheroes, which feels like an entirely different film setting things up for an actual different film.
There are still moments of charm and moments of laughter in the film. Considering my expectations, I think I laughed or chuckled more than I expected, so the film is not a waste of time. But even with that, it can't help but feel a bit muddled, a bit messy, and perhaps a bit less Gru-ish.
Grade: