Amiable nothingness has plagued the Despicable Me franchise for over a decade now. When I first embarked upon a new lifestyle choice of reviewing every last new film I saw, the biggest early stumbling block was Despicable Me 2. It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t great. The biggest problem was that it did nothing to separate itself from the original. The film built little and broke no new ground. That’s not uncommon for sequels, but this one seemed especially difficult to pry from its parent.
The 2010 original Despicable Me was an absolute gem. I cannot state that firmly enough. Perhaps we discount it because it was animated or aimed at a younger audience. Or maybe it got lost in the shuffle. After all, 2010 was the greatest year in animated film history (Despicable Me, How to Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3, Tangled, Megamind) and there isn’t a close second. Argue all you want; you’ll lose. Every single one of those films is an absolute timeless gem and fourteen years later only Tangled has gotten lost (almost entirely because Disney followed it with the inferior-yet-more-beloved Frozen). The original Despicable Me had three major things going for it: the was fresh, hilarious, and allowed for a great deal of character growth. You’ll note that no Despicable Me sequel nor spin-off has any of those things going for it. Granted, the Minions are adorable, yes, and they were an animation coup – I dunno who invented them, but that person ought to be in the animation HoF. That said, the Minions don’t really grow now, do they? The best you can hope for is that their adventures are either entirely new or outlandish. Despicable Me has been languishing in this giant pool of mediocrity even since 2010, and we all know it.
Until now.
Despicable Me 4 started the same as the others, but eventually, dare I say, grew [read: Gru]. We have to get there first. In the opening, Gru (voice of Steve Carell) turns a school reunion into a bust when he captures former and current rival Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) – a.k.a. “The Cockroach.” (An opportunity was blown here; the cast includes Stephen Colbert … wouldn’t it be funny to have Colbert voice the villain to revive the “Daily Show” “Even Stevphen” bit? No matter.) Within three second, the Cockroach escapes, vowing to crush Gru and all the Gru-lings. Hence, everybody has to go into witness protection.
Now, so far, there isn’t much here worth writing about. Gru hasn’t changed, neither have his girls, his wife, or the Minions. The fam has a new baby, Gru, Jr., but I honestly don’t think there’s much there, either. Most of the Minions go into their own witness protection program where five of them end up with genetically enhanced superpowers. This bit is kinda cute, and a little new. And there’s a giggle or two seeing how the yellow idiots fail at their new gig. Still, none of this is selling DM4 to me.
I don’t want to see a Minion with Hulk-like strength. I was more taken with the Minion trapped in a vending machine, which happens on Gru’s end. Not only is this something one can easily see happening to a Minion, Minion reactions and solutions to such a problem are why we love these guys in the first place.
The story finds itself (or for my money finds some of the original Despicable magic) when Gru is blackmailed by a neighbor child. Neighbor Poppy Prescott (Joey King) recognizes
Gru and threatens to blow his bland suburban witness protection cover unless he helps her with a robbery: stealing the mascot at Gru’s old school. Did I mention Gru’s school resembles Hogwarts? Did I mention the mascot is a live honey badger?
Ah, Despicable Me has found itself again.
Look, I never disliked the Despicable Me franchise. I just LOVED the original so much (recently I rewatched to confirm such). After the original, however, there really wasn’t anywhere to go with characters or the premise. You want to give the Minions their own animated sitcom? Sure, that makes sense. But it only makes sense because they’re adorable, goofy, and don’t change. That is the essence of sit-comery. Movies are different. Characters have to evolve, expand or assist others to do so. For all the adventures of the Despicable Me gang, I have seen any of that kind of growth or comedic innovation for several films until the second half of Despicable Me 4. Was this a great film? Compared to the original? Not even close. But compared to those that followed the original, I think there’s more here than the franchise has seen in a while.
There was once a villain named Gru
Who learned himself a lesson or two
His adventures should end
But they go on re-penned
And they’ll continue long past we’re through
Rated PG, 94 Minutes
Director: Chris Renaud, Patrick Delage
Writer: Mike White, Ken Daurio
Genre: Despicable and despicabler
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Are you gaga for Minions?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Seen it”
