Despicable Me 4 - Film Review

 

Hey Geeks

Took my daughter to see the fourth installment of the popular animation series.

The first two Despicable Me films were great and funny.  The third film was good but it should have been a trilogy.

The family are now joined by Gru's son, Gru Junior. The film starts with Gru under cover at a villain school reunion.  With the help of the AVL - Anti Villain League and Ramsbottom, Gru captures his nemesis Maxime Le Mal who has turned himself onto a cockroach hybrid as it makes him almost indestructible.

He vows revenge on Gru and his family and ..... he escapes to enact his revenge.

Gru and family including wife Lucy and the girls he adopted in the first film, have to go into protective hiding and change their identities.

In the meantime the AVL have employed the Minions.  Except the three he has with him.  Five of the Minions undergo a Captain America type experiment and are given superpowers.  One has a laser eye, one fly's and one becomes like The Thing from Fantastic Four.

Overall - Three is the magic number.  Sadly this seems a rushed retread of the first three films.  The voice acting and animation is again great but the plot seemed lazy.  My daughter and I hardly laughed at all.  The girls which Gru adopted in the first film are hardly in this one, which is a shame.  Instead they are replaced by Gru's neighbours daughter Poppy, who wants to be a villain.  She is annoying and not well written.  The Minions who are usually a highlight are a bit predictable so not as funny.  When five of them are turned into superheroes, it felt lazy and dated and should have been done a few years back as there seems to be superhero fatigue.  There are a couple of chuckle moments but sadly not enough.  Hopefully this will be the last film in the franchise or it will be watered down too much.

Also Pharrell Williams has produced the music and songs for the Despicable Me franchise. To our shock, one of the trailers was a Lego animation film coming out about Pharrell Williams life.  Oh dear.

Bels Score   -  6/10

My Score     -  6.5/10