Despicable Me 4

If I had a nickel every time Universal...

By: Connor N. F. Field

Straight forward, Despicable Me 4 was better than to be expected, not that it was a high bar in the first place. Despicable Me 3 created low expectations for the sequel, but bringing back of Chris Renaud as director was ultimately a smart choice. 

While it did not live up to the expectations of the first two of the saga, it had the same charm, I could not really remember a prolonged moment I was not laughing (whether it be from actual humor or some form of second hand embarrassment). Out of the six Despicable Me/ Despicable Me adjacent films that we have, I would put this within the Top 4.

One of my major critiques of the film is that one of the numerous plot lines felt weakly strung together, however, it was able to gain some ground towards the end of the film. While you had to watch this ugly thing unfold, it was much worth it in the end to see how it came together.

While this may have been just another tentpole Universal attempt at a Cash grab, there felt to be a decent effort put into it creatively. It didn't feel entirely lifeless like some recent animated films have been and was just all around a good laugh.

Spoiler Alert:

If I had a nickel every time Universal made a 4th movie of a franchise in the year of 2024, and the ending featured a return of all of the villains from previous the installments, I would have 2 nickels.'