Despicable Me 4
Universal Pictures | Release Date: July 3, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
24
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Original-CinChris KnightJul 5, 2024
Returning director Chris Renaud, co-director of parts one and two, knows his way around the characters, and he knows what his audience wants: cartoon mayhem, mild naughtiness from the Minions, social awkwardness from Gru. Read full review
80
The TelegraphJul 11, 2024
It’s a dizzyingly efficient blitzkrieg of family fun, crammed with barely connected haunted house, martial arts, 007, country club and superhero-spoofing vignettes. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJul 3, 2024
The sequel isn’t a masterpiece of children’s entertainment by any stretch, but it is sufficiently bizarre and thrilling enough to turn the head of any kid, parent or – judging by my curiously populated press screening the other night – fully grown and childless adult around and around till the room resembles a Looney Tune. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonJul 1, 2024
It’s cheap pandering to fans, but I really couldn’t stay mad at a movie that uses Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon” as a point of contention and has two shout-outs to one of the best movies of 1985, “Real Genius.” Read full review
70
Film ThreatAlan NgJul 12, 2024
Silliness is on tap for you and your kids with Despicable Me 4, providing good fun for a trip to the theater or on a long road trip. Read full review
70
ColliderTania HussainJul 3, 2024
Despicable Me 4 understands its appeal and plays to its strengths. With fun details, vibrant animation, and strong comedic energy, it is a delightful and entertaining addition to the franchise, offering enough laughs and heartwarming moments to satisfy both longtime fans and newcomers alike. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeJul 2, 2024
The plot can sometimes feel like a chaotic melange stretched too thin, but White, who wrote the Illumination avian charmer Migration, elevates the overall narrative by injecting doses of his perennial interest in the social codes of the rich. The Minions get a zany B plot that becomes one of the film’s strongest threads, and a strong voice cast keeps the film engaging and nimble. Read full review
70
Screen DailyWendy IdeJun 14, 2024
Despicable Me 4 may not reinvent the wheel (even if it does soup up a wheelchair with monster-truck-sized tyres at one point). What it does deliver is a brisk, fan-friendly romp which may be a little thin on actual plot but is stuffed to the gills with jokes. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 3, 2024
Like Maxime’s roach-man, “Despicable Me 4” is a hallucinatorily imaginative yet overstuffed amalgam of unrelated elements. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJul 3, 2024
Despicable Me 4 won't win any prizes, but if you like this kind of thing, you'll like this thing. I laughed. The dumber and more random the jokes, the harder I laughed. The kids I saw it with laughed harder. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJul 15, 2024
There’s little that’s new in this enjoyable but familiar brush with villainy. Read full review
60
Total FilmOliver PfeifferJul 3, 2024
Series veteran Chris Renaud (who co-directs with Despicable Me lead animator Patrick Delage) ensures that there’s nostalgic value for older generations, notably in the surprisingly heartfelt, Tears for Fears-soundtracked finale. The addition of the cunning Gru Jr proves a deft move, too; the father/son, bonding/tormenting scenes bring a fresh (and at times touching) dynamic to proceedings. Read full review
60
ABC NewsPeter TraversJul 3, 2024
Sure it repeats everything it did the last three times, but thanks to Steve Carell’s lovable grump of a Gru and those wild and crazy Minions, the random lunacy remains hard to resist. Read full review
60
LooperDominic GriffinJul 2, 2024
As a fun way to kill 95 minutes with your family, "Despicable Me 4" is an unassailable success, even if anyone hoping for more than clearing that low bar may be left wanting. Read full review
60
Screen RantRachel LaBonteJul 2, 2024
The movie's brisk pace keeps the cracks between the various plot threads from showing initially, but upon further inspection, it's clear Despicable Me 4 has so much on its mind, it's forgotten some of what makes the franchise so delightful. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 2, 2024
It isn’t a masterpiece, and no one needs Despicable Me 5, but being unassumingly enjoyable isn’t easy. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 14, 2024
At times, it feels less like a feature than a collection of Looney Tunes-y shorts piled one on top of another. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJul 5, 2024
None of this is especially promising or, frankly, funny. In fact, for much of its length, “Despicable Me” is painfully unfunny. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleZaki HasanJul 5, 2024
Despicable Me 4 is co-written by Mike White (“Migration”) and has a bit more wit and heart — not to mention a few more laughs — than the recent entries in the “Despicable” series. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 5, 2024
Like undercooked comfort food, the series has lost its taste and appeal. Despicable Me 4 exemplifies what happens when an animated franchise overstays its welcome. Read full review
50
IndieWireKate ErblandJul 2, 2024
Despicable Me 4 already feels like six episodes of just such a show, crammed into a single unwieldy, disconnected, and oddly episodic outing. Read full review
50
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaJul 2, 2024
Less of a movie and more of a series of non sequiturs, Despicable Me 4 is a Minions showcase interrupted by Gru and his family. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJake CoyleJul 1, 2024
Six films in and with more on the way, too much of a good thing is becoming more of a pressing question in “Despicable Me 4,” a silly and breezy installment from Illumination Entertainment that passes by with about as much to remember it as a Saturday morning cartoon. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJun 26, 2024
Despicable Me 4 is just messy and wearying, even at a scant 95 minutes. Read full review
50
SlashfilmRafael MotamayorJun 18, 2024
The overstuffed "Despicable Me 4" abandons any pretense of caring about characters or narrative, choosing instead to fit in as many gags, characters, and little stories with as little consequences as they can. Read full review
45
The Daily BeastNick SchagerJul 3, 2024
Kids will undoubtedly chuckle at their familiar exploits; the rest will view the film as an excuse to take a nice air-conditioned nap. Read full review
45
The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeJul 2, 2024
Despicable Me 4 plays like an assemblage of note cards that have been stapled together in a rough approximation of a screenplay. There are about 20 different plot threads that aren’t woven together as much as they’re shoved into one ungainly knot. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithJul 5, 2024
The heart of the Gru-niverse is slapstick and capers, but the balance is all off here. Read full review
40
The New York TimesBrandon YuJul 3, 2024
There’s still occasional fun to be had and a budget that’s clearly put to use, but we’re mostly here, it seems, to keep the Minion cash cow chugging along. Read full review
40
EmpireBarry LevittJul 3, 2024
It looks fantastic, Gru is still loveable, and smaller viewers will be engaged enough. But Despicable Me 4 stalls in its overstuffed plot and its lack of an interesting narrative. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJul 3, 2024
The script by Mike White (who may have been locked in the writer’s room by Illumination Studios after working on the superior Migration) and series co-creator Ken Daurio feels like a stack of B-plots stapled together rather than a full story. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinJul 3, 2024
Despite a few chuckles, some capable voice work and plenty of splashy color, it proves a largely empty and exhausting ride. Read full review
40
Little White LiesDavid JenkinsJul 3, 2024
This time around it’s the same characters, the same gags, the same minions, the same wacky yet bland animation style, yet all with massively diminishing returns. Read full review
40
CNNBrian LowryJul 2, 2024
A tired, disjointed medley of madcap visual gags, the animated film yields roughly as many legitimate laughs as can be counted on a Minion’s three-digit hand. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubLeigh MonsonJul 2, 2024
Good Enough is a few bland chuckles uttered in a vacuous 90 minutes you struggle to remember even as the credits start to roll. Good Enough is a black hole, of which Despicable Me 4 is the singularity. Read full review
20
Paste MagazineMatt DonatoJul 3, 2024
Despicable Me 4 loses focus like a golden retriever in a Petco plushie aisle, splitting characters into bottled subplots that can only be addressed in single-file order. Read full review
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