By Nick Nitkowski

Illumination and Universal Studios’ unexpected cash cow has pumped out another installment of the “Despicable Me” franchise with Number 4! With everyone’s favorite Minions doing crazy antics alongside their boss Gru, his wife Lucy, his adopted daughters Margo, Edith, and Agnes, and now his own baby boy, Gru Jr! What adventures await in this fourth installment? Let’s find out!

I’d be very surprised if you haven’t heard of “Despicable Me” at this point. You literally cannot escape it. I remember the first one being very interesting. It had its own unique style and identity. The second one might actually be my favorite of the franchise where they managed to expand their world and play more with their characters. The third one was probably the weakest, in my personal opinion, they set up many plot points that could have been great to explore but ultimately did nothing with them. And the Minion films happened in between.

The main plot of this new installment is that Gru is being hunted by an old enemy seeking revenge on him. So, for the protection of his family, they must relocate to a secret location and blend in to hide. And then other things happen as well. Like, now there are Mega-Minions and something to do with a honey badger. This was all I got from the trailers. I try not to watch too many of the trailers because Illumination has a bad habit of showing too much footage in their exorbitant number of trailers.

With “Despicable Me 4”, it definitely felt like a series of random events. There was no real story or arche of any kind for any of the characters. It was just one thing happening after another. But of course, kids are going to pay no mind to story arches or character development. They’ll just be captivated by the bright colors and laugh at those silly little Minions doing crazy slapstick humor.

Of course, we have Steve Carrell reprising his role as Gru along with Kristen Wiig as Lucy. And Steve Coogan is back as the head of the AVL Silas Ramsbottom. Miranda Cosgrove and Dana Gaier are back as Margo and Edith. And we have a new voice for Agnes because the last one became too old for the role… just like the last one. Not only that, but we also have some new characters added to the mix! We have a new villain played by Will Ferrell and his partner in crime played by Sofia Vergara. We also have Joey King as the daughter of Gru’s new neighbor played by Steven Colbert.

Overall, I thought that “Despicable Me 4” was okay. I can honestly say that it managed to get a few chuckles out of me. And I can easily say that it’s better than “Despicable Me 3”. But what really holds it back is its lack of storytelling. It should be no surprise that this movie is just for marketing to sell movie Minion toys to kids. That is what “Despicable Me” has become now. So, we can either jump on board or watch it sail on. Because kids are gonna watch it and their parents will be forced to oblige and it will be successful and they’ll keep pumping out more and more as often as they can until it stops selling. A plan so genius, and so evil and despicable that it works every single time, but the audience I watched the movie really seemed to have enjoyed themselves, so take that for what it’s worth.

3 stars