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Despicable Me 4<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 94 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (action and rude humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Chris Renaud\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Mike White and Ken Daurio\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Heitor Pereira\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 3, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Joey King, Sofia Vergara, Stephen Colbert, Chloe Fineman, Miranda Cosgrove, Steve Coogan, Pierre Coffin, Dana Gaier, Madison Polan, Chris Renaud, Laraine Newman.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The key to enjoying Despicable Me 4<\/strong> is understanding that it does nothing differently than its predecessors. It\u2019s not groundbreaking in any way. Director Chris Renaud, who directed the first two films, doesn\u2019t reinvent the wheel with this fourth entry. It\u2019s simply another silly computer-animated comedy-adventure in which a reformed villain tries to take down another villain with the help of his expanding family and a trio of little yellow mischief makers. Throw in a few subplots and you have Despicable Me 4<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Gru (Carell, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) is now the proud father of a bouncing baby boy who doesn\u2019t like him very much. Gru Jr. has yet to bond with his dad, but he\u2019ll have ample opportunity to do so now that his entire family, including the Minions, has been temporarily relocated. It\u2019s like this. In the opening sequence, Gru attends a class reunion at his alma mater Lycee Pas Bon (which roughly translates to \u201cBad High School\u201d). He\u2019s not there to reminisce with his old classmates. Rather, he\u2019s there to arrest his school days rival Maxime Le Mal (Ferrell, Anchorman), the latest supervillain in the crosshairs of the AVL (Anti-Villain League). Enhanced with cockroach parts, he plans to conquer the world aided by femme fatale sidekick Valentina (Vergara, Modern Family). He, of course, is stopped by Gru. That makes him mad.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0A short while later, Gru\u2019s old boss (Coogan, Blinded by the Light) shows up at his house to inform him Maxime has escaped and is headed his way. He needs to get to a safe house right away with his family- wife Lucy (Wiig, SNL), three adopted daughters Margo (Cosgrove, iCarly), Edith (Gaier) and Agnes (Polan), baby Gru and Minion trio Stuart, Kevin and Bob (all voiced by Pierre Coffin). Now known as \u201cChet Cunningham\u201d, a solar panel salesman, Gru tries to fit in with his affluent neighbors, the Prescotts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In a nutshell, here\u2019s what else is going on in Despicable Me 4<\/strong>:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n -The Prescotts\u2019 teen daughter Poppy (King, Bullet Train) is an aspiring supervillain. She knows exactly who Gru really is and threatens to expose him unless he helps her pull off a heist at his old school. She plans to steal the school mascot, a honey badger.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n – Lucy, now going by \u201cBlanche\u201d, gets a job at a hair salon where she immediately causes bedlam by setting the hair of a snooty customer (OG SNL cast member Newman) on fire. Later, the irate woman goes after Lucy in a supermarket.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n – Back at AVL HQ, Silas selects five Minions to be part of an experiment to create a group of \u201cMega-Minions\u201d, each one with super powers. Naturally, they\u2019re better at creating chaos than helping people.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n -Maxime and Valentina have it in mind to kidnap Gru Jr. and turn him into a cockroach hybrid with the supervillian\u2019s latest invention, a cockroach gun. They manage to locate the family-in-hiding with the help of the school principal (Renaud), an elderly meanie in a souped-up wheelchair.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0That about covers all the salient points of Despicable Me 4<\/strong>. There are no deep messages or hidden agendas. It\u2019s just a simple CA comedy that kids will absolutely LOVE! It has plenty of Minion (and Mega-Minion) action and silly slapstick. It has Gru trying hard to be a good dad only to end up looking like more of a fool. It has a bunch of random bits, like Gru playing tennis at a snobby country club with the neighbor and his pals with one of the Minions (I can never put names to the Minions) as referee. There\u2019s an amusing running gag with one of the Minions trapped in a vending machine. In short, it\u2019s business as usual for the franchise.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The only complaint I have, and it\u2019s a minor one, is that the writers don\u2019t do more with Margo\u2019s story arc. She\u2019s a middle school student struggling to fit in at a new school. Surely, they could have had some fun with that. Why not have one of the Minions pose as a substitute? That\u2019s be good for a few laughs. It\u2019s a missed opportunity to be sure, but it doesn\u2019t diminish the movie\u2019s overall enjoyment factor.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Despicable Me 4<\/strong> will appeal to parents as well, especially ones that grew up in the 80s. People in my age group will get a few laughs out of Gru\u2019s impression of Boy George at the school talent show; it\u2019s the thing that caused the rift between him and Maxime to begin with. At the end, the whole cast joins in a big musical number set to \u201cEverybody Wants to Rule the World\u201d.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The animation in Despicable Me 4<\/strong> is on par with the other three movies. It\u2019s colorful and lively. The voice talents do a good job. Ferrell sounds like he\u2019s having a blast playing a ridiculous villain. Vergara, I just love her voice and accent. They\u2019re all good, what else is there to say?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The bottom line is this: Despicable Me 4<\/strong> is good family fun. If you\u2019ve already taken the kids to see Inside Out 2, this is a good choice for day when it\u2019s too hot or rainy for outdoor activities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0P.S. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be seeing a Mega-Minions movie at some point in the near future. Remember where you heard it first.<\/p>\r\n Despicable Me 4 (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 94 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (action and rude humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Chris Renaud\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Mike White and Ken Daurio\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Heitor Pereira\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 3, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Joey King, Sofia Vergara, Stephen Colbert, Chloe Fineman, Miranda Cosgrove, Steve Coogan, Pierre Coffin, Dana Gaier, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Despicable-Me-4-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":528,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions\/528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Despicable-Me-4-POSTER.jpg?resize=620%2C981&ssl=1\")
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