Despicable Me 4 (2024)

The Despicable Me franchise has, by any measure, been one of the most commercially successful animated series of the modern era. The original Despicable Me (2010) introduced audiences to the reformed supervillain Gru, his adopted daughters, and the Minions, striking a chord with families worldwide and launching a franchise that has since expanded into spin-offs, theme park attractions, and what can only be described as an industrial-scale merchandising operation. This fourth mainline entry, released in the summer of 2024, arrives a full seven years after Despicable Me 3 and follows Gru, his wife Lucy, their three daughters Margo, Edith and Agnes, and a new addition to the family, baby Gru Jr., as the household is forced to uproot itself and go on the run from a fresh threat: the flamboyant criminal Maxime Le Mal and his partner Valentina. The premise is, on paper, familiar territory, trading on the same domestic chaos and broad villainy that has characterised the series from the start.

Behind the camera is Chris Renaud, who has directed or co-directed several of the franchise's key instalments, including Despicable Me 2 (2013) and The Secret Life of Pets (2016), and who returns here under the Illumination and Universal Pictures banner. Illumination, the studio founded by Chris Meledandri, has built its reputation on relatively lean production budgets and reliably enormous box office returns, a business model that prioritises broad accessibility over artistic ambition. Whether that approach serves a fourth entry in a well-worn series is, of course, the question worth asking. The screenplay introduces Will Ferrell as the antagonist Maxime Le Mal, alongside Sofía Vergara as Valentina, while series regulars Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, and Miranda Cosgrove reprise their roles. Carell in particular has always been the franchise's secret weapon, bringing a genuine warmth and comic timing to Gru that elevates material which might otherwise feel thin. His range outside animation, evident in films like Little Miss Sunshine (2006), is a reminder of what he is capable of when the writing meets him halfway. At 94 minutes, the film is a polished but unremarkable piece of family entertainment, engineered to satisfy without surprising.

At this point, the Despicable Me franchise isn’t so much telling stories as going through the motions. EVEN MY KIDS ARE BORED OF IT. Despicable Me 4 feels less like a movie and more like a corporate mandate. Another entry to keep the Minions merch machine running. The plot is Gru and the family move to a new town, meet a bratty neighbour kid who becomes his nemesis, and face off against a cartoonish new villain (a flamboyant, egomaniacal former child star, because why not). It’s all been done (badly) in earlier films, just with different hats. Steve Carell still gives it his all, but even his charm can’t breathe life into a script that’s flatter than a deflated whoopee cushion. The jokes are stale, the emotional segments are ticked off like a checklist, and the Minions (once a quirky highlight) are now just noise, reduced to grunting, falling over, and repeating the same gags for the tenth time. They’re not funny anymore; they’re exhausting. The animation is technically fine, sure, shiny, bright, and soulless. But there’s no heart, no originality, no reason this needed to exist. The family dynamics feel forced, the new characters forgettable, and the whole thing drags despite its short runtime. Even the musical numbers, once a franchise staple, feel like obligations rather than moments of joy. It’s not offensive, just deeply unnecessary. A lazy, uninspired cash grab that mistakes brand recognition for storytelling. The series had heart once. Now it’s just a yellow stain on the screen. One and a half stars. half a point for nostalgia, and one for the fact that, somehow, it ends.

I've sat through enough of these now to know when a franchise has genuinely run out of road, and this is very much that moment. What stings a little is that the original film had something real going for it, a scrappy charm and a surprisingly tender emotional core, and it's hard not to feel a pang of something watching all of that goodwill get slowly drained away entry by entry. The Minions were funny once, genuinely funny, and the fact that they've been reduced to what amounts to branded wallpaper says everything about where Illumination's priorities now sit. If you've got children who are committed fans, you'll probably end up watching it anyway, and I understand that. But if you're hoping for even a flicker of what made Gru's world worth visiting in the first place, you won't find it here. Sometimes the kindest thing a franchise can do is stop. This one missed that window by at least one film.

Rating: ★½  | Year: 2024  | Watched: 2025-08-10

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Despicable Me 4 (2024) on YouTube

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Netflix · Netflix Kids · Netflix Standard with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Chris Renaud: Despicable Me (2010) · The Secret Life of Pets (2016) · The Lorax (2012) · Despicable Me 2 (2013)
More with Steve Carell: Beautiful Boy (2018) · Despicable Me (2010) · Little Miss Sunshine (2006) · Dinner for Schmucks (2010)
More from the 2020s: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · The Long Walk (2025) · Americana (2023)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More animation: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)