Adding a baby to the cast of characters in a sequel is the canary of intellectual property death. The most obvious offender for us is Muppet Babies, but there have been many others. Angel, Murphy Brown, Friends are the first ones that rip off of the top of my head. And while casual fans of those shows or the movies that have hit that creative dearth might struggle to remember the specifics, they can vaguely recall that entry as the one with the baby. Despicable Me 4 is the one with the baby and lest there be anyone who didn’t suspect that’s a major plot point, there’s a baby on Gru’s back on the DVD’s cover. One of the minions is beside him, channeling its best yellow-Men-In-Black impersonation with a ray gun of sort in its gloved-yellow hand.
Despicable Me 4 opens in the classic way that spy movies start. It’s an over-the-top action sequence that’s set in the mountains where Gru is attempting to arrest Maxime Le Mal, who has harnessed the power of cockroaches. In a shocking turn of events, Le Mal escapes and promises vengeance on Gru regardless of where he lives. Gru returns his suburbia life to where his three girls and Lucy are in the kitchen. Gru Jr., sometimes just called Junior, is on Lucy’s back and is quickly established as liking mom much more than dad.
Their new neighbors are tennis snobs, with whom the two feel obligated to try and connect with. They also have a teenage daughter, who has found out about Gru’s previous life and is blackmailing him to do something adventurous. The minions get roped into helping the Anti-Villain-League help Gru on his new mission and four of the minions are given a super-hero serum that gives them the powers of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.
Gru tries to connect with Junior, Le Mal discovers where they live and a climactic battle where the super minions arrive to help with comic relief ensues. I’m getting sleepy just thinking about watching Despicable Me 4. I fell asleep watching it. It is a gorgeous movie. The animation is top notch and the vocal work is great, albeit forgettable and could’ve been accomplished with vocal actors, without the marquee status for 1/10 the cost. It’s a big, colorful movie that will entertain ages 8-13, and try in vain to keep sleepy adults awake, but ultimately fail at that too.
As I was watching Despicable Me 4 I found myself asking if this movie was that bad or if I held the others at an inflated, unrealistic level. I saw the previous Despicable Me movies in the summer. Is there a sliding scale due to the Atlanta heat blanket that automatically makes summer movies more enjoyable because you’re in air conditioning? That is possible. I saw them with my children when they were younger and cuter, and I yearn for those days. That is not possible.
I saw Despicable Me 4 with our 13-year-old, who enjoyed the movie quite a lot. He tried to explain to his 15-year-old brother the major plot points of the movie, which bad guys showed up at the end and what the minions did that was different than the previous three films. The high school student just looked at him with mild disdain and politely said, “I’m glad that you liked it.”
As a dad I was glad that he was polite. There were any number of rude ways to tell his brother that he didn’t care for it or even want to hear about the film, but he took the high road. Despicable Me 4 is one of those animated films that is good for a narrow age band and won’t go north of that. I was surprised that the 13-year-old still enjoyed the film. There wasn’t any audible laughter from either of us, just a quiet sense of contentment, or sleep, depending on who you were monitoring.
Despicable Me 4 is rated PG for action and rude humor.
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