At the Jazz at Lincoln Center, the red carpet was rolled out for the premiere of Despicable Me 4. Illumination and Universal Pictures fourth installment of the Despicable Me franchise, directed by Chris Renaud and written by MIke White and Ken Daurio. They brought back actors to continue the saga of the film. Voice stars include the regulars Steve Carell (as Gru) and Kristen Wiig (as Lucy). A new criminal villain emerges in Maxime Le Mal (played by Will Ferrell) and his wife Valentina (played by Sofia Vergara), with these names alone, you are going to be treated with a hilarious journey. So let’s see what this animated comedy film is all about.
As stated before, Steve Carell is the voice Gru and Gru has left his villainous days behind him and works for the AVL , Anti-Villain League. Not only is he a family man living with his wife Lucy and the three adopted daughters Margo (played by Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (played by Dana Gaier), and Agnes(played by Madison Polan), they have a new addition to the family, his biological son Gru, Jr. Gru is having a hard time bonding with his baby boy. This interaction is pretty funny and brings out some real life subliminal messages regarding father and son relations. Does Gru finally have a connection with Jr? If he does, you know it’s going to be in the most odd way possible.
Kristen Wiig comes back as the voice of Lucy. Lucy is so into being a mom. And now she has a baby boy to gush cuddle over. Unlike Gru, Jr. really takes a liken to mom and his sisters. Even though Lucy has retired to a stay at home mom. she still hasn’t lost her touch as an AVL. In particularly when comes to the protection of her kids. Nothing like a mother’s love.
Basically, the story of the film goes like this, Gru goes to his class reunion at the villain school he attended growing up under cover for the AVL to catch Maxime Le Mal, an old classmate. Unaware that Maxime has special powers, which made it tricky to capture him. Gru and the team finally catch Maxime and send him to prison, only for Maxime to escape with plans to get revenge on Gru by kidnapping Jr. The AVL places Gru and his family in the witness protection program, giving them new names and living in a rich neighborhood. Things take a turn when Poppy (played by Joey King), the next door neighbors daughter, knows his true identity and blackmails Gru into helping her steal the villain schools mascot. The mission backfires and Maxime Le Mal discovers Gru’s location. Does Maxime succeed in kidnapping Gru Jr.? Will Gru go back to being a villian again? What kind a life does the minions have and what are they doing in the AVL? And you want believe how the feud with Gru and Maxime got started in the first place.
There are times when it’s not funny and on the edge of boring. The kids in the audience continued to be amused and maybe that’s what’s most important. Music singer-songwriter Pharell Williams is back with a hot track entitled “Double Life” which embodies the theme of the film. Overall the rate is (3/4) 🍟. Go see this movie with the kids in theaters starting July 3rd….
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