DVD Corner

Despicable Me 4 4K UHD Review

“Despicable Me 4” is the weakest in the series.

Written by Mike White and Ken Daurio, “Despicable Me 4” begins with former supervillain turned Anti-Villain League (AKA AVL) member Gru attending a villain class reunion. He’s not just attending the reunion as he’s looking to arrest wanted French criminal Maxime Le Mal (who is now part cockroach). Maxime ends up in prison but quickly escapes and teams up with his girlfriend Valentina to kidnap Gru’s baby son Gru Junior. Wanting them to be safe, Silas relocates Gru and his family (which includes his wife Lucy and their 4 children) to a safe house in the town of Mayflower where they take on new identities. The family struggles to fit in all while Gru also struggles to connect with his new son Gru Jr. Gru’s problems only worsen when the neighbor child Poppy (a wannabe villain) discovers Gru’s real identity and blackmails him into pulling a heist to steal the Honey Badger mascot of the villain school Gru once attended. 

As the Illumination franchise lingers on, it’s clear that the franchise is seeing diminished returns in this fourth installment directed by Chris Renaud. While watching “Despicable Me 4,” it feels like writers Mike White and Ken Daurio are merely throwing out ideas to see what sticks. You’ve got the main plot with the baddie Maxime, a father-son bonding story (with Gru. Jr. coming across as a Jack-Jack knock-off), and then a host of subplots that add very little including Lucy’s failed hair salon stint and a karate class sequence. There’s also 2 storylines (Poppy and the Mega Minions heroes) which feel entirely like shoehorned in stories that position themselves to be spin-offs for movies and or TV. Even the sappy musical ending feels like a set-up for more stories with the showcase of villains. It’s as if the Despicable Me universe is wanting to be the next MCU even though the movie also pokes fun at the MCU ironically. 

Star-studded voice casts are always a mixed bag to me as we all know there’s plenty of pro voice actors out there that should be getting the big roles. With that said, the cast is still solid. Obviously, Steve Carell is synonymous with Gru at this point. You can’t imagine anyone else in that role. Joey King does a fine job with the new character Poppy. We could probably do without Will Ferrell’s weird French accent with Maxime (what a random villain character by the way). Kristen Wiig delivers as Lucy, but her character gets short changed here. Likewise with Sofia Vergara as Valentina who has very little to do here. 

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.85:1 2160p. How does it look? The CGI animation is flat-out gorgeous on 4K.

Audio Track: Dolby Atmos. How does it sound? This is the type of lively film that takes full advantage of the Atmos track. 

Extras:
* Digital copy
* Blu-ray copy
* 2 new Minion shorts titled “Game Over And Over” and “Benny’s Birthday.”
* “How To Draw” Mega Dave, Mega Mel, Mega Jerry, Mega Gus, and Mega Tim.
* 9 deleted/extended/alternate scenes.
* “Despicable Dialogue”- A behind-the-scenes look at the voice cast recordings.
* “Meet The Cast”- 7 interviews with Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Joey King, Miranda Cosgrove/Dana Gaier and Madison Polan, Stephen Colbert/Chloe Fineman, Sofia Vergara and Will Ferrell.
* 11 minute “Making Of” featurette with interviews, story discussions, convos about storyboards, animation and more.
* “Mega Minion Mayhem”- A featurette on the Mega Minions.
* “Rogues Gallery” takes a look at the villains that pop up in this sequel.

September 24, 2024 - Posted by nicklyons1 | 4K UHD Review | Despicable Me 4, Despicable Me 4 4K UHD Review, Gru Jr., Minions, Steve Carell, Will Ferrell