Felt like it wasn’t sure what its own film was trying to accomplish at all.
One minute we’re watching gru back in the AVL capturing another infamous villain thats known gru since high school. Only for him to escape and supposedly hunting gru back down in revenge.. which takes only the whole movie to find him.

No joke, its like waiting for Bart or Vector to go after gru but never finding any result till the last 10 minutes. Its a VERY BORING movie. Yes its for children but the first two films I felt like both adults and kids could enjoy it.

Even the minions were meh in this, I usually have some chuckles if not with gru and his kids/family. They felt phoned in as well. Maybe its about time we stop making these yeah?

On a side note gru has a kid who can clearly understand english which tells me hes at least 2-3. Yet his adopted children are still the exact same age? This only works in television cartoon shows I feel like, especially when time has progressed since gru and lucy have been married. Either have the girls grow up too or don’t have a baby in the film as if time skipped.

The goofy Minions are on the loose again in “Despicable Me 4,” a lazy sequel that does little more to advance the franchise other than embodying the old adage of “style over substance” to a fault. There is very little here to recommend other than the first class technical achievements (the visuals are stunning, and the direction is better than expected for an animated film), making this installment feel more like a mindless baby sitter rather than a thoughtful exercise in creativity and storytelling.

Former supervillian Gru (voice of Steve Carell) is living the good life with his wife Lucy (voice of Kristen Wiig), his daughters Margo (voice of Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (voice of Dana Gaier), and Agnes (voice of Madison Skyy Polan), and new baby Gru Jr., who proves to be a handful for his daddy. Their peaceful routine is sent into chaos when the evil Maxime Le Mal (voice of Will Ferrell) and his girlfriend Valentina (voice of Sofía Vergara) escape from prison and set their sights on a new nemesis and potential target: Gru. This forces the family to go on the run and assume new identities in the suburbs.

The plot is basic and sounds like it could be a lot of fun with its fish out of water spin. Unfortunately, very little is done with the story. The film bounces back and forth with a lame narrative and cute Minions taking part in a variety of wacky, screwball antics, which may provide a good balance for adults and kids, but nothing about any of it works well. The far too simple and sparse story meanders between uninspired plot points and predictable characters arcs, never quite finding its footing. In other words, the movie is just plain dumb.

The introduction of the Mega Minions is mildly fun and entertaining, but it runs out of steam fast (I fear these characters are going to spin off into what will inevitably be another lackluster film). Everything else is a shallow gimmick as the movie struggles to maintain momentum. At least it’s true to the “Despicable Me” canon, but the film also shows that there’s only so much you can do with these characters and this universe. Move along: there’s nothing original to see here.

“Despicable Me 4” is a lazy movie overall, which is a shame because the technical aspects are so excellent.

By: Louisa Moore / SCREEN ZEALOTS

Good fun but the weakest in the franchise
As I said above Despicable Me 4 will no doubt be a hit worldwide hands down but it didn’t strike a chord in my books.

Pros Our lovable Minions doing what they do best which is wacky fun crazy stupid things which induces some laughs. I think the best cute thing was the baby Gru after the Minions. It was nice to see Gru for once a bit afraid and on the backfoot to protect his family.

Was lovely to see all the ex antagonists in the end from the series.

Cons I would say the plot is simple and predictable but the villain, although not a bad one was not as menacing and interesting.

Would have loved more of Dr Nefario.

Minion Superheroes were a treat to watch!

Good fun but the weakest in the franchise
As I said above Despicable Me 4 will no doubt be a hit worldwide hands down but it didn’t strike a chord in my books.

Pros Our lovable Minions doing what they do best which is wacky fun crazy stupid things which induces some laughs. I think the best cute thing was the baby Gru after the Minions. It was nice to see Gru for once a bit afraid and on the backfoot to protect his family.

Was lovely to see all the ex antagonists in the end from the series.

Cons I would say the plot is simple and predictable but the villain, although not a bad one was not as menacing and interesting.

Would have loved more of Dr Nefario.

Minion Superheroes were a treat to watch!

When caring is the bare minimum, you know you have problems and Despicable Me 4 is caring about nothing whatsoever

If it’s not sacrilegious to say, I think this franchise is starting to run out of steam – the plot here isn’t very original. The family “Gru” have a new child who doesn’t much take to his father which only makes matters worse when arch-nemesis “Maxime Le Mal” – who is intent on turning everyone into cockroaches – escapes from custody bent on revenge on the man who put him in jail in the first place. Better safe than sorry, “Silas” relocates the family to a safe house where they have to pretend to fit in with the vacuous tennis club set, but one of that number – the feisty “Poppy” knows the secret and blackmails “Gru” into helping her pinch “Lenny” the badger from under the eyes of the diminutive “Principal Übelschlecht” at his alma mater. This adventure narks the headmistress and when she sees some video of the perpetrators, she’s straight on to the phone with “Maxime” who hatches a plan to steal the baby and give him wings! The minions – and the newly formed and enhanced “Super Minions” – still manage to have some fun here as they discover their new home has a vending machine and an endless supply of popcorn, and there is some wit in the dialogue but the story itself is all pretty derivative and the animation looks a little too tired now. What was ground-breaking looks so much less now and the writing and characterisations are nothing special anymore. It does liven up for the last ten minutes, but the previously innovative and enjoyable mix of menace and mayhem has largely gone.

Good fun but the weakest in the franchise
As I said above Despicable Me 4 will no doubt be a hit worldwide hands down but it didn’t strike a chord in my books.

Pros Our lovable Minions doing what they do best which is wacky fun crazy stupid things which induces some laughs. I think the best cute thing was the baby Gru after the Minions. It was nice to see Gru for once a bit afraid and on the backfoot to protect his family.

Was lovely to see all the ex antagonists in the end from the series.

Cons I would say the plot is simple and predictable but the villain, although not a bad one was not as menacing and interesting.

Would have loved more of Dr Nefario.

Minion Superheroes were a treat to watch!

Meh
While the soundtrack was pretty good, the story never got interesting. I thought that maybe it was just me, but all four of my family members had similar feelings when it finally ended.

We were all looking forward to this movie, but it fell well short of our Despicable Me expectations.

I kept thinking “I should just fall asleep in the exceptional recliner at the theater”, but I was optimistic that it would turn around… eventually. I was wrong.

The characters were all good, but instead of Gru and Lucy being proactive and adventurous, they seemed clueless and fearful. It was the opposite of the last two movies.

Skip this one. Your time is better spent taking a nice nap.