June 30, 2024
Together with his Minions (Pierre Coffin), Felonious Gru (Steve Carell) attended a reunion of Class 1985 at his alma mater, the prestigious Lycee Pas Bon School for Villainy, still run by old wheelchair-bound Principal Übelschlecht (June Squibb). His real mission as an agent of the Anti-Villain League was to arrest his old nemesis Maxime Le Mal (Will Farrell), who had developed destructive super-insect powers.
However, his involvement with Maxime's arrest eventually put Gru and his family -- wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig), daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), Agnes (Madison Polan), and his infant son Gru Jr., under a severe security threat. The AVL, under their boss Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan), relocates the whole family into a new community where they all had to assume new identities.
I admit that I am not exactly the target demographic of these movies. There was even a direct dig against Boomers (not that I'm one) in one of the jokes. In the first two acts, I hardly had the patience to sit through all the silly (euphemism for "annoying") shenanigans of everyone, especially the naughty Minions. Introducing here were the five Mega-Minions, whose inept use of their super-powers spoofed the Marvel superhero films.
Everything turned around when the tiresome inane comedy switched gears to frenetic action mode. Gru reluctantly agreed to abet a criminal plot of his young BTS-fangirl, villainess-wannabe next-door neighbor Poppy Prescott (Joey King). The hilariously exciting heist sequence in the Lycee Pas Bon reenergized the whole final act. It reached two climactic showdowns between Gru and Maxime, one on a building rooftop, and another in prison.
Incredibly, this is already the sixth film in the "Despicable Me" franchise, including the two spin-off "Minions" films. I feel the franchise has run its course, but I can foresee perhaps at least one more Minions sequel about the Mega-Minions. DM4 was about Gru trying to connect with his Junior. Unfortunately, this was not done in the same heartwarming fashion how Gru connected with his girls, which made DM1 extra-special. 6/10.
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