Despicable Me 4 exists because its five big-screen siblings—three direct predecessors and two Minions-focused prequels—made the franchise the most lucrative in animated-cinema history. Pretending there’s a creative reason for continuing the series is foolhardy, and Chris Renaud’s sequel offers no reason to think there’s anything more than a profit motive at play here.
Continuing the tale of bald, oddly shaped Gru and his clan of human and yellow compatriots, this surefire summer blockbuster, premiering July 3, doesn’t break with formula but, more problematically, also fails to devise a story of any substance of purpose aside from staging more juvenile Minions mayhem. Kids will undoubtedly chuckle at their familiar exploits; the rest will view the film as an excuse to take a nice air-conditioned nap.
Reformed supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) is still working for the Anti-Villain League, and his latest assignment is infiltrating his school reunion at Lycee Pas Bon in order to nab his childhood arch nemesis Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell), a French rogue sporting curled-back hair and a puffy green coat with a bushy fur collar. Maxime and his icy girlfriend Valentina (Sofia Vergara) waste no time picking on their old classmate.
