Despicable Me 4: A Hilarious Gag Race (Review)
Cockroaches, a Junior and Minions everywhere… The fourth installment of the animated saga provides the minimum service for fans of all ages.
The Gru family is growing! We say hello to Junior, a cute little boy with a red haircut who is really annoying his dear dad. The main plot revolves around him, since the new super-villain, Maxime Le Mal, the cockroach man, wants to kidnap him to get revenge for an old grudge with Gru that borders on the ridiculous, just like his outfit. The time of charismatic antagonists is long gone: the Machiavellian Vector and his undeniable sense of fashion and the ruthless ‘El Macho’. We even end up missing them.
In execution, Despicable Me 4 is nothing revolutionary. Seven years after the third part which had opposed Gru to the (too) nostalgic Balthazar Bratt, and two years after Minions 2 – a big public hit but a creative disappointment – the Illumination studio is still banking on its golden goose. We can also criticize the film for the fact that it relegates the female characters, once central, to the background or that it does nothing with the army of cockroaches that it introduces, when we would have paid to see a confrontation between these sewer insects and the Minions…. And yet, what a laugh!
By appealing to French Benjamin Renner (Ernest and Celestine) For Migrationa very good surprise last Christmas, Illumination has proven that it can support more ambitious animation projects with a real purpose. And this should still be the case with the adaptation of the novel Big Tree by Brian Selznick (itself born from an idea by Steven Spielberg) currently in development. But the studio’s stock in trade which is also preparing Super Mario 2 (not forgetting the sequels of the franchises All on stage And Like beasts) remains above all to entertain the public. An objective that he accomplishes wonderfully.
Despicable Me 4 goes all-in with a series of gags of formidable effectiveness. True to themselves, the Minions do what they do best: total chaos. Wherever these little yellow creatures in overalls pass, in the foreground or in the background, laughter bursts forth. Their nonsense follows one another and multiplies tenfold when a handful of them form “Avenger” Minions who are obviously less effective and more clumsy than the “real” ones! Add to that a particularly mischievous baby and there you have it! The little ones have fun and the adults also get their money’s worth with jokes that are specially aimed at them with mockery and “vintage” references. No one can really resist this firework of pranks and “minion-eries”.
By Patrick Delage and Chris Renaud. With the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell… (in original version), Gad Elmaleh, Audrey Lamy, Pierre Coffin (in French version)… Duration 1h34. Released on July 10, 2024
