Despicable Me 4 2025 Movie Review Trailer

English“Despicable Me.” I have a vague memory of dipping in and out of the first one, but other than that, the franchise has completely passed me by. I did a quick Google search to catch up before diving headlong into “Despicable Me 4,” and was shocked to discover that there are at least five films in the “Despicable Me” universe. How on earth, I thought, could there possibly be enough content for another film in the series?

I did, however, find myself standing in line at the theater on a cloudy Saturday morning, along with several sleepy-looking parents and overly loud kids, coffee in hand, wondering how exactly I ended up there, but, ready to go nonetheless. And, moviegoers, let me tell you, I had a blast. Granted, it wasn’t the movie of the year, and I won’t be rushing back to see it for a long time. But “Despicable Me 4” offered a light sense of relief that was surprisingly welcome after a busy, stressful work week.

Directors: Chris Renaud, Patrick Delage
Writers: Mike White, Ken Daurio
Stars: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin

There’s no wasting time in this movie. From the get-go, viewers are immediately thrust into the action, meeting former supervillain Gru (Steve Carell), who attends a reunion at his old school, Lycée Pas Bon, which immediately gives off spooky haunted house/Hogwarts-style vibes. The scenes featuring Gru’s old stomping grounds are probably some of my favorite visually. In fact, one of the things I love most about the movie is the variety of different and exciting set pieces – “Despicable Me 4” certainly packs an impressive amount of content into its short 1 hour and 32 minute runtime.

At the Lycée Pas Bon, Gru, accompanied by his trio of henchmen (I’ll get back to them, don’t worry), runs into an old classmate from their high school days, Maxine Le Mal (big shout out to Will Ferrell), who holds a grudge against Gru due to a humiliation at an old-school talent show (we’ve all been there). In what some might consider a rather over-the-top reaction (*spoiler*), Maxine decides to transform into a big cockroach (as is often done) and swears revenge on Gru. This results in Gru having to move out and create a whole new identity for himself and his family and as you can imagine, not everything goes as planned.

“Despicable Me 4” ticks a lot of boxes to be a fun, wholesome, light-hearted, family-friendly movie. There are plenty of adult-themed jokes, dazzlingly bright and colorful sets, some old-school villain/superhero vibes, and just plain good, wholesome fun. Granted, I can’t compare it to the other movies in the series, but as a standalone film it works and still managed to surprise me here and there.

And if I’m being totally honest, I can’t believe my life up until this point has been completely devoid of these fun and adorable little minions. I loved that they got to play the superhero role (albeit terribly), with a hilarious parody of some of the Marvel movies, and for me, they completely make and carry the movie.

The family is forced into hiding, and everyone has little B-stories where they try to start a new life in a posh neighborhood under new identities. Wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig) tries to become a hairdresser with disastrous results. Middle daughter Edith (Dana Gaier) sticks up for younger sister Agnes (Madison Polan) in karate class. Oldest daughter Margot (Miranda Cosgrove)… has about three lines. Gru tries to win the affection of his snobby neighbor (Steven Colbert), but ends up being blackmailed into pulling off a heist with the neighbor’s wannabe villain daughter Poppy (Joey King). The movie could have had a more positive message if Gru had taught Poppy that a life of villainy is not the way to go, but no, she feels validated and wants to be a supervillain as much as ever by the end of the movie.

The Minions (all voiced by Pierre Coffin) have their own subplot where some of them are given superpowers by the head of the AVL, Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan). This thread doesn't work for me because the Minions weren't human anymore and didn't have many physical limitations anyway, so giving them superpowers seems like a lateral move. Example: one of them gets the power to stretch. Okay, but another Minion, one who isn't given superpowers, gets stuffed into a vending machine and spends the entire movie living there. It seems to me that the Minions were already pretty flexible.

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