Tired, formulaic animation comedy, none too entertaining
Johnson Thomas
Directed by Chris Renaud, with screenplay by Mike White and franchise stalwart Ken Daurio, ‘Despicable Me 4’ is not exactly a winning creative follow-up to this financially proficient series. The new setting, new villain and new characters, including Gru and Lucy’s newborn, Gru Jr, and their neighbour’s teen daughter Poppy, fail to serve up enough fun and antics to increase the existing fan following.
Gru and Lucy, their girls Margo, Edith and Agnes, and Gru Jr are at risk from his new nemesis, Maxime Le Mal, and his femme fatale girlfriend, Valentina. They are forced to go on the run after Maxime escapes from prison.
The plot is thin and chaotic. Though there are hints of prevalent social codes affecting Gru’s elevation to life in Mayfair, the script fails to bring it out in an elevating manner. Even the Minions become a side show, with nothing much to contribute to the main story thread other than some tiresome slapstick. The narrative feels familiar and uninspiring. Though the Minions are not exactly annoying, they contribute little to the overall entertainment value here.
The animation quality is great, but the writing is rather fractured and disrupted. It’s as though the writers accumulated disconnected sequences and forced a connection. The interlocked gags fail to raise the bar on entertainment here. The main story has Gru (Steve Carell) and Maxime (Will Ferrell) renewing their school rivalry in adult life. The intrusion of Poppy (Joey King) into that thread doesn’t sit well. The story is disjointed and the plot rather thin and stretched out.
Illumination Entertainment’s animation quality is without doubt brilliant but the stories are becoming blander, with unrelatable characters and generic messaging. The cartoon strip cheap thrills fail to excite. Even the Minions fail to make it worthwhile.
Even though the sight gags have been designed to be funny, they don’t score well on the funny scale. The voice actors do well to lend some credibility to the disarray. Gru being blackmailed to help the teen neighbour Poppy in stealing the school’s mascot do not add heft to the narrative. Even Maxime is forgettable.
The stories strung together make it all seem bland. The effort feels tired and formulaic. This one is definitely quite messy, and none too entertaining!
