By Erin Free
Worth: $16.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Joey King, Sofia Vergara
Intro:
...colourful and entertaining...
The Despicable Me films – and their two equally successful Minions spin-off movies – have long been the box office jewel in the crown of Universal Pictures and Illumination Animation. Not too dissimilar from the mammothly successful Shrek films, the Despicable Me films have been consistently entertaining if not exactly strenuously ambitious, running off their strong voice players and delivering lots of laughs with just the right amount of warmth and sentiment.
And despite suffering a few critical slings and arrows upon its release, the latest installment, Despicable Me 4 (which comes after 2022’s surprisingly superior 1970s-set prequel Minions: The Rise Of Gru, a definite highlight of the franchise) very much continues in this vein, delivering more than enough giggles to keep the kids happy and plenty of sharp humour for their parents too. Steve Carell is once again on point as bad-guy-turned-good-guy Gru, who in this installment has to go into hiding after being threatened by pompously nasty French villain, Maxime Le Mal, voiced with wondrous Gallic gusto by Will Ferrell. With a sassy surprise ally in the form of his new neighbours’ daughter Poppy (Joey King is a lively and engaging addition to the cast), the hapless Gru must throw down against his superior enemy to protect his family.
Bouncing along sweetly on a great Pharell Williams score and songs, and animated with real style and verve, Despicable Me 4 is a lot of fun. Sure, the screenplay is a bit scattershot and unfocused (the B-plot shenanigans of the Minions – this time super-charged through science – feel even more disconnected from the main narrative than ever), but Will Ferrell ‘s cockroach -powered Frenchman is a real hoot, and Gru always makes for a sweet, loveable hero. Though no game-changer, Despicable Me 4 is colourful and entertaining, and amply proves that there’s plenty of life left in this popular animated behemoth of a film franchise.
