Film: Despicable Me 4

 

GENRE: Animated
RATING: PG for action and rude humour
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 34 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatres
STARRING: Steve Carell (The Office, 40-Year-Old Virgin; IF)
Kristen Wiig (SNL, Bridesmaids); Will Ferrell (SNL, Anchorman)
DIRECTORS: Chris Renaud (Despicable Me 1 & 2)
Patrick Delage (newcomer)
WRITERS: Mike White (White Lotus, School of Rock, Nacho Libre);
Ken Daurio (Secret Lives of Pets, Despicable Me 1-3, Migration)
PLOT: Gru’s family is in danger from an old school rival so they enter the witness relocation program.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: Loved the first two films but not the third.

STORY STUFF: There is a bunch of very fun stuff in this film but there are also some flaws. I do think it is an improvement over the third film. The storyline is okay but veers off into weirdness when Gru is blackmailed to break into his former school. The main three minions are great with lots of vending machine fun. The minion bus and training are also hilarious. The ‘super’ minions do not work for me at all. Hardly a laugh; what a shame. The villain is not that great but then I have found all the franchise baddies are too over-the-top and one-note. One of my highlights of the film would have to be the cat doing Dance-Dance-Revolution – very funny.  

ACTING STUFF: All the voice acting is well done. Ferrell goes big with his accent for Maxime – which can be both fun and annoying. I enjoyed the stunt casting of Stephen Colbert as an aloof neighbor just so he could work with his Daily Show buddy. Pierre Coffin always does well rocking the minion voices. And Madison Skyy Polan as Agnes is always super adorable. Love that character.         

ARTISTIC STUFF: The animation is well done like their previous films, although Baby Gru is tempting copyright as an Incredibles Jack-Jack wannabe. Pharrell does his song stylings like usual. Nothing really new to talk about though.

VERDICT: Four stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You’ve seen the other ones.  
UPCOMING REVIEW:  Twisters