Film Journal 2024: Despicable Me 4

Film Journal 2024: Despicable Me 4

Full disclosure- I’ve been an apologist for this franchise since it started. I loved the idea of the tortured villain in the first film left trying to measure up to standards that label him a failure. The second film found its proper chemistry by balancing the act of bringing the now iconic minions further to the forefront while still keeping Gru at its center. The story there also found its natural progression in the whole villain turned good guy motif.

While I also appreciated the Minions film, a half step down in my ratings from the 4/5 I gave the first two films, and which came as a bit of a surprise with its heart felt premise (who knew you could mine such character development from the loveable comic relief), it would be fair to say the third film followed the law of diminishing returns (3/5). My biggest critique of that film, besides the beats starting to feel a bit repetitive, was one of the worst on screen villains in recent memory.

This fourth film actually reverses that trajectory towards diminishing returns, not by giving us a more memorable villain, rather by making the villain secondary to the real story and concern. Once again, as we found in the first and second films, we find Gru learning from a strong group of female characters, including his daughters and the addition of a charming and likeable next door neighbor. This is paired with the male villain, a fellow student from Grus past, providing a way into Grus troubled relationship with his only son.

Nothing here lives up to the first two films in my mind, straddling a line between fine and enjoyable. There are some decent running gags, but no true laugh out loud moments, and some welcome time spent with what becomes different groupings within the film just building those relationships. It also has a tight running time, which allows it to feel like it never overplays its welcome.

However, I will say, the final 20 minutes makes a valiant effort to come close, offering that moral/life lesson the franchise is known for, concluding the different threads with an emphasis on the family, and even providing a few touching moments that almost earned a tear.

I don’t imagine this franchise is dying out any time soon, but if i was able to imagine a final entry I might dare to imagine it using this upward trajectory to really bring things back full circle as a way of capturing Grus development through the family that has now come to define his moral center. There is potential there for some nice commentary to emerge both through the father-son relationship as well as the different women in his life, perhaps making Gru the central villain once again, subservient to the necessary transformation of course.

One can hope.