Despicable Me 4 is the fourth movie in the Despicable Me series with two prequels, MINIONS and MINIONS: The Rise of Gru. The movie was directed by Chris Renaud who directed many popular movies like the Secret Life of Pets, Sing, The Lorax (2012), and The Grinch (2018). Gru is played by Steve Carell who is also known for his iconic role in The Office as Michael Scott.
In the previous movies, it shows Gru’s Life as a villain with the goal of becoming the number one villain by stealing the moon. A popular quote you may have heard on tik tok or even heard your friends saying, “Minions, tonight we steal the moon!” surrounded by cheering minions. It also shows him trying to balance being a villain and a father figure to three girls he adopted for a special mission, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Madison Polan). In the second movie it shows Gru quitting the villainous life to raise his three daughters and joining the AVL, the Anti-Villain League. He is given a mission to track down a notorious villain and thought Gru would be the perfect guy for the mission due to his past. During this mission he falls in love with his partner, Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) and gets married in the end. In the third movie Lucy and Gru get fired because there is a new boss in charge of the AVL and the minions convince Gru to go back to the life of crime. Gru also finds out he has a long lost twin brother named Dru. Together they create trouble in Dru’s hometown. To watch this franchise I recommend watching it in the following order: Minions, Minions: Rise of Gru, Despicable Me 1,2,3 and finally Despicable Me 4
Now that you have a brief summary of what happened in the previous movies, let’s get on with the fourth movie. I watched this movie the day after it was released with my family and we had a blast. Grus’ arch nemesis from villain school named Maxine (Will Ferrell) vows vengeance after Gru busts him and sends him to a jail that holds villains and steals his trophy. Maxine escapes from his holding cell and plots to kidnap Gru’s son. Hearing this the AVL sends Gru and his family in to witness protection in a whole new town with whole new identities without the minions. The minions are sent to AVL headquarters where they get trained for a new program to make them have superhero abilities. Obviously, the minions failed the trials due to their childlike behavior, but they were still proven to be useful in the end. Meanwhile living in this quiet new town, the neighbor’s daughter, Poppy Prescott (Joey King) reveals that she knows Gru’s true identity and blackmails him into helping with a heist at his old villain school and stealing the school’s mascot, the badger.
The heist was successful and it put a major mark on their back. The school’s headmistress favors Maxine and alerts him of Gru’s whereabouts to help him get revenge. Maxine successfully kidnaps Gru Jr., turns him into a cockroach hybrid baby, and turns him against Gru. My family loved how Gru and Lucy’s son, Gru Jr. hated Gru but it was very heartwarming when they finally got along in the end and it was just a very cute moment. Overall it’s a show meant to laugh about and not overanalyze like some critics did and just watch like you’re a little kid again.
