Despicable Me 4 begins a new chapter as Gru and Lucy and their girls —Margo, Edith and Agnes —welcome a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina and the family is forced to go on the run.

 

The Despicable Me franchise, with its now four main features and two spin off Minion films is a box office and cultural smash hit. Aside from the original 2010 entry, each film has grossed nearly a billion dollars. Absolutely phenomenal. And the films are a massive hit in our house too with our oldest watching Minions on repeat. 

 

As a consequence of having the flu run riot through our family, recently we watched old Disney animated classics Robin Hood and Hercules. In both of the films there’s a couple of sequences where a centaur gets hit on the head with a whole lot of horseshoes and a group of characters run through a brick tower. All super unrealistic, all kinda cartoony in the best kind of way. 

 

In an era where animated movies more often than not follow the laws of physics, really attempting to get as close as possible to real life as they can, the Despicable Me films are a real breath of fresh air. They know what kind of films they are, made with kids and the young at heart in mind, with zany, insane, cartoony slapstick action sequences, crammed full with bright, colorful animation. 

 

Despicable Me 4 is no different, further developing the characters we know and love, with a tale that feels, at times, more disjointed than the other entries, but still a heck of a lot of fun. The main story is punctuated with scene stealing minion sequences which are laugh out loud funny. 

 

I reckon that the real marker of any animated family film is this: firstly, did our child want to run out of the cinema or was she pretty entertained? She was thoroughly entertained, yelling out MINIONS every time those banana loving creatures appeared on screen. And finally, what about the adults in the group, how did they fare? Well, I had a great time and while Grandpa didn’t think it was quite as good as the others, had a great time too. That’s a family winning film for all ages right there. 

 

 Zany, insane, and crammed full with bright, colorful animation and cartoony action sequences, Despicable Me 4 is a great day out at the cinema for all the family.