Is Despicable Me 4 a Fresh Take or Just More of the Same?

By Ignacio Chazarreta

Minions (voiced by Pierre Coffin) in "Despicable Me 4." (Illumination & Universal Pictures/TNS)

Despicable Me 4 was recently released and well, I felt it was a little bit repetitive like the rest of the Despicable Me movies. Although the plot is good and the new characters are an exciting choice to say the least, the lack of minion content was definitely evident in my opinion. The setting was better than the other ones, but remember the reason that the reason people watch this series is for the: Banana!

Setting

Probably the best part of this movie was the new environment of the movie. In most minion movies, we see Gru try to hatch out his master plan, which then goes sideways, or he has to go on some special mission for his job. But in this new edition they completely flip the status quo, and bring us to this new suburban neighborhood that puts Gru way out of his comfort zone. He seems like a fish out of water and goes from trying to be the best villain there is to being placed in a suburban neighborhood where he doesn’t fit in.

The setting also allows many older audiences who might have younger children to relate to Gru’s experience. Life goes from being very liberating, free and doing what you want with your loved one, but the next moment you're stuck in a house with kids trying to adapt to this radical change. I believe that the setting really does a lot in this story, in addition to creating some of the many new characters we see in the film.

Characters

The characters in this movie bring back lots of old and known protagonists like Gru, Lucy, Margot and even Dr. Nefario. But the new face we see is Máxime Le Mal, the antagonist in the story who is presented as a childhood rival/enemy of Gru. This not only adds to Gru’s mostly unknown backstory but also shows what being a villain in their universe is like. It’s practically a whole culture to be a villain, almost like in Harry Potter, which if you are a wizard you live in a whole other world. My favorite part of this character is just how much they antagonized him, with his angry French accent, his cockroach army and his overly extravagant clothing.

However Poppy Prescott, a young neighborhood girl who aspires to be a villain, also becomes a big influence on Gru. She brings out Gru’s past and makes him remember his old self of being a villain. However, Perry Prescott (Poppy’s dad) does the exact opposite, by playing the typical suburban rich guy. It is funny just how different he is from Gru in clothes, hair, house, activities and his overall personality.

Plot

The movie's plot, although simple, is satisfactory for a kids movie. It introduces a main villain with a backstory for context, creates a conflict and then it gets resolved by the main character. It is entertaining throughout the movie and does give you a good chuckle, however not the funniest thing I’ve seen. Although in the movie Gru does go through some of the worst nightmares of any parent of getting their child kidnapped, its nothing that really left me in awe. You could say Illumination played it safe and even though it lacks some uniqueness, it's simple, well done, and enjoyable.

Final movie rating: 6/10

I do believe this movie was ok, although when you see the ideas it brings it really does have lots of relatable topics with the characters and setting, but again the lack of minion moments was severely disappointing.