A Haphazard Plot: Despicable Me 4’s Unfocused Narrative

If I had to sum up Despicable Me 4, I’d call it the K-pop mashup of animated films. The movie feels like a chaotic blend of disparate scenes, each individually amusing but lacking a cohesive narrative. When pieced together, it creates a disjointed and illogical storyline.

Despicable Me 4 lacks a clear main plot or a coherent sequence of events centered around it. The humor, while present, is scattered throughout, contributing to the film’s overall sense of disarray. If you were to break the film down into individual TikTok clips or short film snippets, they might be entertaining on their own. However, forcing these snippets into a full-length movie doesn’t work. Although I found myself laughing at various scenes, I felt an overwhelming sense of confusion and disappointment once the credits rolled.

The movie seems to follow four main storylines: Gru and the Cockroach Man Maxime Le Mal, Gru’s relationship with his son, the Minions as secret agents, and Gru and the neighbor girl. These four plotlines felt disconnected and lacked strong interlinking threads.

Even when considering these storylines independently, their logic and structure felt weak. The conflict between Gru and the Cockroach Man, while fitting for a family-friendly animated comedy, was overly simplistic. The Cockroach Man builds a flying machine to seek revenge on Gru, engages in a battle, captures Gru’s son, who then inexplicably awakens to his own abilities, and the Maxime is defeated and jailed. The climax, a musical battle during a company’s year-end performance, was a forced and clichéd resolution.

Next, the relationship between Gru and his son starts with his son’s apparent dislike for Gru. Forced to spend time together, their bond supposedly strengthens when the neighbor girl enlists Gru to steal a high school trophy. This adventure is meant to change the son’s perception of Gru, but it doesn’t convincingly explain the sudden shift in their relationship. This made the son’s emotional awakening during the final battle seem unearned and baffling.

The Minions subplot was particularly frustrating. To protect Gru, most Minions are taken in by the Anti-Villain League for a “special experiment” to become “super agents,” a supposed nod to the Fantastic Four. However, the execution was lackluster. The Minions’ powers were briefly showcased before they vanished, only to reappear for the final showdown. This subplot felt unnecessary and lacked the innovation needed to justify its inclusion.

The story involving Gru and the neighbor girl, who aspires to join the villainous high school, was more engaging. She blackmails Gru into stealing the school trophy to secure her early admission. This plotline was logical and had well-placed humor, making it the most coherent part of the film.

Despite this, Despicable Me 4 feels like a patchwork of scenes, like a K-pop medley with individual high points that don’t connect into a satisfying whole. The transitions were jarring, the plot was fragmented, and the typical family warmth felt forced. This disjointed narrative left much to be desired.

As a fan of the Minions, I found their portrayal in Despicable Me 4 disappointing. The film didn’t utilize their potential, reducing their roles to clichéd and uninspired segments. It might be better to focus solely on creating quality Minions content rather than forcing another Despicable Me sequel.

Lastly, I was taken aback by the K-pop elements featuring Blackpink and BTS. While I’m a fan of K-pop and have followed BTS closely, their sudden inclusion in the movie felt awkward and out of place, like seeing familiar faces unexpectedly dancing in front of me. This isn’t a critique of the groups or the film, just my personal reaction to the surprise.

In conclusion, it might be time to retire the Despicable Me series and focus on delivering the quality content that the Minions franchise deserves.