Despicable Me 4 (2024)
★½ — Despicable Me 4 (2024)
Despicable Me 4 is the fifth feature in Illumination's wildly lucrative franchise (sixth if you count the Minions spin-offs), arriving a full seven years after Despicable Me 3 in 2017. Chris Renaud, who directed the original 2010 film and its 2013 sequel before handing the reins to Kyle Balda for the third instalment, returns here to take charge again. The franchise as a whole has become one of Universal's most reliable commercial properties, with the series having earned well over four billion dollars globally across its run, and this fourth entry continued that tradition by pulling in close to a billion dollars at the worldwide box office on a relatively modest hundred million dollar budget. Will Ferrell joins the regular voice cast as the new villain Maxime Le Mal, stepping into a franchise that shows no sign of slowing down commercially, whatever else might be said about its creative momentum.
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.
Rating: ★½ | Year: 2024 | Watched: 2025-08-10
Where to watch (UK)
Stream: Sky Go · Now TV Cinema
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK
Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.
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)
