It’s difficult to parse what’s so appealing about a group of yellow Tic-Tac shaped objects that speak in gibberish. The Minions are back and love them or hate them, they’re central to the premise of the “Despicable Me” franchise. The first “Despicable Me” animated film was released in 2010. French-Indonesian filmmaker Pierre Coffin, who co-created/directed that film, has now been voicing the Minions for 15 years.
Director Chris Renaud, who co-directed that first film returns to direct this fourth film with Patrick Delage. This time, the vocal cast features new villains voiced by Will Ferrell and Sofia Vergara. There are too many characters which leaves less time to develop any attachment to them. Yet the film has raked in $52 million dollars in it’s opening weekend, so it’s clearly a hit.
The adorable daughters of Gru (Steve Carell) and Lucy (Kristen Wiig) have a new sibling, Baby Gru Jr. What grounds this comedy is the central premise of family love. Gru might be a master supervillain but he’s foremost, a dad. The interactions between his character and his son are some of the funniest, and most touching. The film is full of action sequences and silly adventures for the Minions. Without those central relationships—Gru and his Minions, the three central Minions and Gru’s wife and kids—the brightly-colored zany animation would have no heart.
I love to watch these films with an audience full of children to see what makes them laugh. In “Despicable Me 4”, it was any scene with the Minions or the kids. When the baby gives Gru a hard time, the kids were snickering. They loved the Honey Badger scenes and the Minion stuck in the vending machine.
Having Gru go on a mission with a lisping pre-teen, who’s also an aspiring villain, was a lot of fun. Joey King does a great job voicing Poppy Prescott. Sadly, like so many animated films of late, there are too many well-known voices in bit parts. Poppy’s parents are voiced by comedic stars Stephen Colbert and Cloe Fineman. It feels as if having big names necessitated more screen time for those characters. Instead of adding any nuance to our central characters, it slows the picture down.
What keeps the film on sure footing is the soundtrack. The silly subplot of Gru and Maxime Le Mal as teens in a Talent Show leads to a sing along of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” (Tears for Fears). The opening theme song by Pharrell is the catchy “Double Life” and both songs embody the themes of the film.
The “Despicable Me” franchise remains family friendly. The violence is in the same vein as Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner. Everyone bounces back from physical mayhem. Maxime Le Mal gets his comeuppance as he gets dropped from a great height, smashed, bashed and crushed. Like the roach he has become, he makes a full recovery. Even in prison, Le Mal is happy to get a rematch of competitive singing with Gru. All the super villains join in the song and dance. The film makes it seem like prison is a merry place to be.
“Despicable Me 4” is the first film to have misstep in its depiction of the Minions. The Super Minions are a distraction and more egregious, not funny. The best moments here are between Baby Gru and his dad. A bit involving a banana made me laugh out loud. The sight of Gru sinking into a bean bag chair, the fun design of the tree house and the Hogwarts-like school, and Gru finding clever use for items in a diaper bag are highlights.
A cheerful film with some silly characters and an emphasis on the importance of family, this may not be the best entry in the franchise, but the kids will be entertained. If you can tolerate a certain surplus of silliness, you might enjoy it too. There’s no end sequence to wait around for and this time, there’s a certain French flair given to certain characters — Illumination is a French Animation House.
Drinks with Films rating: 2 shaken sodas cracked open to spray all over you (out of 5)
Drinks with films 